For example, the United States is now facing pressure from the European Union to impose something like Europe's regulatory privacy regime. Such a regime would make it harder for businesses to use information about consumers to develop new products, reach their first customers, and cut costs. Little or no attention has been paid as to how this would hurt consumers. Our best policy here is to support the U.S. tradition of freedom of information. Avoid harmonization for its own sake.
Harmonization is of some practical value, but it has costs, as well.
Expanding trade drives innovation. The dynamic impact of trade can be seen readily in places such as the Interstate 85 corridor that runs through Virginia, the Carolinas and Alabama. In the last five years, the region has lost an estimated 35,000 jobs in the apparel, furniture, and textile industries. But that is less than half the story. In all, the corridor has added about 65,000 new manufacturing jobs despite the losses in textiles and furniture.