In a speech given to Northwestern University s Kellogg School of Management in March, Barshefsky stressed that China will, for the first time since the 1940s, permit foreign and Chinese businesses to import and export freely from China. The agreement also will reduce state control over internal distribution of goods and the provision of services. Barshefsky believes that WTO accession will ignite reform of China s industry. She echoes President Clinton s position that the agreement will do more than just increase imports to China it will ignite economic freedom. In lectures Barshefsky often warns her audience that in this moment, when our nation enjoys such security and prosperity, all of us face a great temptation.
Individuals can turn inward, thinking simply of careers and personal advancement.
Countries can do likewise, accepting the status quo or believing that when others prosper, it is at their expense. We know this is true because it has happened before. But because of isolationists fearing that other countries prosperity would come at the expense of the United States, the United States adopted the Smoot-Hawley Act and thrust the country deeper into the Great Depression. It was a mistake made under the pressure of fears which are natural, understandable and as alive today as they were seventy years ago, she says. She does not want the United States to repeat the mistakes of the past.