US and Europeans believe free trade cuts jobs: poll

07 Dec, 2005

A majority of people in the United States and most of Europe's big countries believe free trade cuts local jobs and mainly benefits multinationals and economies such as China and India, a survey showed on Tuesday.
Days before key talks on a new world trade deal originally billed as a way to help poor countries, the survey showed two-thirds of respondents on both sides of the Atlantic had a positive view of international trade in general.
However, in the United States, Germany, Poland and especially in France and Italy - although not in Britain - most respondents said freer trade reduced employment in their home countries.
Fifty-eight percent of Europeans and Americans would support raising tariffs - the opposite of what the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is trying to do - to protect jobs.

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