Free trade has become one of the most burning political issues in advance of the American presidential election. Using powerful mobilization techniques, different interests try to fuel the increasing skepticism towards free trade in the public eye, specifically free trade agreements.
In the report “From Model to Warning Sign – USA and the opposition to free trade” Sara Norrevik discusses the growing opposition to free trade with a starting point in the American presidential campaign. How is it that trade protectionism is performing so strongly right now? Have mistakes been made in communication of the positive effects of free trade, and if so, what are they? How can the tide of opposition to free trade in Europe and the US be turned?
Sara Norrevik is a doctorate student in political science at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, a Fulbright scholar and fellow at Stockholm Free World Forum. She previously worked as a political expert for the Swedish government. For the past two years she has been living in Buffalo, a part of the industry-heavy region in the northern US that has become the center of the movement opposing free trade.