Homework Questions
Please respond to the Forum questions listed below. You are expected to give complete answers referring to what you have read in the “Lessons” (reading & resources). Reference to, or the use of critical thinking, analysis, what you have learned in previous courses, the media, and in your professional lives is also expected. Define the subject; make references to what you have read, what you have learned elsewhere, and then form a response.
Instructions: Your initial post should be at least 350 words. Please respond to a least 2 other students. Response should be a minimum of 150 words and include direct questions. When addressing the topic questions, you are to state the question followed by your response. Do this for each question posed.
1) Is it cost effective to spend millions of dollars in an effort to stop a hand-full of people” who are bound to terrorize the United States? What is NAFTA and GATT ? How have they changed throughout Presidential Administrations?
2) What is the “Hardened Border Paradox? What is the “Open Border Paradox? How can both be overcome?
Note this requirement – respond to at least two of your classmate’s posts.
Articles for weekly assignment:
Cervantes-martínez, R., Villaseñor-becerra, J., & Romero-morett, M. (2016). NAFTA trade (and some extra NAFTA trade) in value added and its distribution, 1995-2011. Journal of Economic Structures, 5(1), 1-22.
Flynn, S. E. (2004). Rethinking the role of the U.S. Mexican border in the post-9/11 world. Council on Foreign Relations.
Memorandum for the secretary of state, the attorney general, the secretary of homeland security. (2017). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
Neville, M. K. Jr. (2017). U.S. trade policy relaunch. Journal of International Taxation, 28(2), 30-39.
Office of the United States of the trade representative. (n.d.). North American Free Trade Agreement.
President Trump’s Executive Order. (2017). Addressing trade agreement violations and abuses. (2017). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
President Trump’s Executive Order. (2017). Regarding the omnibus report on significant trade deficits. (2017). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
President Trump’s Executive Order. (2017). Protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States. Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
President Trump’s Executive Order. (2017). Presidential executive order on establishing enhanced collection and enforcement of antidumping and countervailing duties and violations of trade and customs laws. Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
Tomaz, M., Goldstein, J. & Rivers, D. (2005). Membership has its privileges: The impact of GATT on international trade. Stanford University. 1-28.
Wong, K., & Yu, M. (2015). Democracy and accession to GATT/WTO. Review of Development Economics, 19(4), 843 – 859.
Zarate, J. (2017). The future of counterterrorism strategy. Hampton Roads International Security Quarterly, 32.
Student #1 David
Good day Classmates and Professor,
1) Is it cost effective to spend millions of dollars in an effort to stop a hand-full of people” who are bound to terrorize the United States? What is NAFTA and GATT ? How have they changed throughout Presidential Administrations?
The Question, is it cost effective to spend millions of dollars in an effort to stop a hand-full of people who are bound to terrorize the United States, well, it is simply not a question worth asking. You cannot justify it, because there are never just a hand-full, and there will always be more. It is irrelevant to think this way anyway, because if even one attacker came across, and committed one significant attack, well, that is one too many. One attack is enough to cause significant panic and fear in the people of the United States which in itself justifies the Border protection assets, and justifies the money being spent to prevent it, this is not always productive though, but necessary. (Flynn, 2004).
NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA was created in the 1990’s to propose economic growth through “free trade” with our border sharing partners, Canada and Mexico, connecting all of North America in an overarching attempt and financial and economic growth. (Office of the United States of the trade representative.) NAFTA was proposed to originally spark growth economically, specifically in Mexico more than Canada, but since its early inception, it has not increased Mexico’s financial gain, but in fact, hurt it. With our President Trump in office, NAFTA has been revisited but in a negative light.
GATT is the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT was established to remove or diminish barriers which impede the flow of international trade and to encourage by all available means the expansion of commerce. ( Tomaz, 2005) The GATT over the years has been supplemented with World Trade Organization (WTO).
2) What is the “Hardened Border Paradox? What is the “Open Border Paradox? How can both be overcome?
The Hardened Border Paradox is referring to a countries attempts at building a hardened border to keep someone or something out, but getting the opposite effect, those entities which it wants kept out only try harder to cross, or get through said border. Great powers have tried, China with the Great wall of China, the Berlin wall in Germany between the East and West, and of course more current times with the United States and the Mexico border. (Flynn, 2004)
The Open Border Paradox is completely the opposite of the closed as you could assume. The border has less emphasis placed on it, no real heavy deterrents such as a massive physical barrier, yet the entity which is being kept at bay, tries less significantly to cross, and cares less to do so.
Both paradoxes, situations in life can be overcome, either by force or circumnavigation of some sort.
References:
Cervantes-martínez, R., Villaseñor-becerra, J., & Romero-morett, M. (2016). NAFTA trade (and some extra NAFTA trade) in value added and its distribution, 1995-2011.Journal of Economic Structures, 5(1), 1-22.
Flynn, S. E. (2004). Rethinking the role of the U.S. Mexican border in the post-9/11 world. Council on Foreign Relations.
Memorandum for the secretary of state, the attorney general, the secretary of homeland security. (2017). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
Neville, M. K. Jr. (2017). U.S. trade policy relaunch. Journal of International Taxation, 28(2), 30-39.
Office of the United States of the trade representative. (n.d.). North American Free Trade Agreement.
President Trump’s Executive Order. (2017). Addressing trade agreement violations and abuses. (2017). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
President Trump’s Executive Order. (2017). Regarding the omnibus report on significant trade deficits. (2017). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
President Trump’s Executive Order. (2017). Protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States. Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
President Trump’s Executive Order. (2017). Presidential executive order on establishing enhanced collection and enforcement of antidumping and countervailing duties and violations of trade and customs laws. Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.
Tomaz, M., Goldstein, J. & Rivers, D. (2005). Membership has its privileges: The impact of GATT on international trade. Stanford University. 1-28.
Wong, K., & Yu, M. (2015). Democracy and accession to GATT/WTO. Review of Development Economics, 19(4), 843 – 859.
Zarate, J. (2017). The future of counterterrorism strategy. Hampton Roads International Security Quarterly, 32.
Week 3 Lesson, APUS.Edu, Http://apus.realizeithome.com
Student #2 Lewis
1) Is it cost effective to spend millions of dollars in an effort to stop a “hand-full of people” who are bound to terrorize the United States? What is NAFTA and GATT? How have they changed throughout Presidential Administrations?
Is it cost effective to spend millions of dollars in an effort to stop a hand-full of people who are bound to terrorize the US? Is this a rhetorical question? Should citizens like myself or others including the ones in this classroom be eligible or even permitted to answer such a question? According to Article IV Section 4 of the US Constitution it is the purpose is “the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence” (Various). The word invasion is sensitive with some individuals or groups. By definition invasion is “an incursion by a large number of people or things into a place” (Stevenson/Lindberg). Perhaps to some this question is not even worth asking and all immigrants to include people and or things, legal or illegal should be let into whichever country they wish at the expense of the citizens and/or that nation (whether or not it is in the United States). Is your life or your family’s life worth risking a that one or “hand-full of people” to do you or your family harm? What is your life worth? What is your family’s life worth? Is the after effect of a terrorist attack on the United States worth the risk (note what happened to the economy and boarders after the 9/11 attacks)? Is the US government capable of achieving its role/goal of protecting its borders and citizens all while not infringing on their rights as a free people? To honestly answer this question, one must ask are you willing to keep your door to your home open and/or unlocked welcoming anyone to come in at their will? After all, “good fences make good neighbors” (Frost). NAFTA, an acronym for the North American Free Trade Agreement, currently obsolete and is being replaced with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). NAFTA, placedinto “force on January 1, 1994. Tariffs were eliminated progressively and all duties and quantitative restrictions, with the exception of those on a limited number of agricultural products traded with Canada, were eliminated by 2008. NAFTA also includes chapters covering rules of origin, customs procedures, agriculture and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, government procurement, investment, trade in services, protection of intellectual property rights, and dispute settlement procedures” (USTR). NAFTA eliminated tariffs or taxes on goods between the USA, Mexico and Canada. This was arguable to lower the cost of goods therefore raising the economy based on sales of those goods (CNN). GATT, an acronym for General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT), is the predecessor to the World Trade Organization (WTO), whichis anintergovernmental organizationthat regulates international trade. GATT was an agreement such as NAFTA between many countries around the world by membership, whose purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating tariffs and/or quotas. Depending on the administration the GATT and NAFTA are supposed to change based on goods and/or the definition of goods, including services. Over the years to promote and keep free trade some services were not billed or the bill was ignored by the home country. One of these “bills” was the failure to pay dumping bills, “CBP has a record of the importer’s failure to fully pay antidumping or countervailing duties; or CBP has a record of the importer’s failure to pay antidumping or countervailing duties in a timely manner” (Trump). With previous administrations the status quo differed from today. Then the main goal were low cost goods due to a struggling economy. Today the goal is security where the economy is a close second or can also be considered intertwined. “Free and fair trade is critical to the Nation’s prosperity, national security, and foreign policy. It is in America’s economic and national security interests to promote commerce by strengthening our relationships with our trading partners, vigorously enforcing our Nation’s trade laws, improving the overall conditions for competition and trade, and ensuring the strength of our manufacturing and defense industrial bases” (Trump).
2) What is the “Hardened Border Paradox? What is the “Open Border Paradox? How can both be overcome?
“Simply defined, a hardened border paradox is when increased security along the border supports criminal organizations” (APUS). This is when the border is much harder to cross due to more stringent security measures. As capitalism proves again, increased demand along with a limited supply. Criminal organizations will increase their activity along with a larger profit margin due to the difficulty of smuggling illegal substances to include illegal immigrants. The higher demand to come into the US (items and individuals) will cost more making criminal organization more aggressive and find new ways to mitigate the new security measures. Open Border Paradox inherently promotes free trade, but in turn inadvertently closes the nation’s borders due to standard security measures of inspections of goods that are incoming to the nation. In my opinion, neither can be overcome or achieved in the real world, except “on paper.” The key hurdle for these paradoxes is the human condition as well as governments. Every government and individual, whether it be a single administration or individuals who work with other governments for a unified world entity, all have goals. The goals may be greed or to have everything be open and “free.” However, both the individual and government wants something. Until governments as well as individuals can all think alike and every human being including those in power within governments can cease self-interests, then the overcoming will be impossible.
References:
Frost, Robert. (1914). Mending Walls. Poetry of Robert Frost. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44266/mending-wall
Stevenson/Lindberg. (2017). The New Oxford American Dictionary, Third Edition
Various. (1789). United States Constitution. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitutio…
Trump, Donald J. (Mar 31, 2017).Presidential Executive Order on Establishing Enhanced Collection and Enforcement of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties and Violations of Trade and Customs Laws.White House Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Briefings / FIND. Copyright (c) 2017 Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/docv…
Trump, Donald J. (Mar 31, 2017).Presidential Executive Order Regarding the Omnibus Report on Significant Trade Deficits. White House Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Briefings / FIND. Copyright (c) 2017 Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docv…
American Public University Systems (APUS). (no date).Lesson3: GATT, NAFTA, and the Hardened/Open Paradox. https://apus.realizeithome.com/RealizeitApp/ContentDelivery.aspx?Token=DCqXLO54nDJ8aVCp1jEEQxpxNwR5QCnvBHoSbMFAtWooOd0TKw7WV0HljfD9FSmTbjsTJVQoiL%2fNuVeT9imLGcHmpKHLqQZDLqdf%2fieP0opV%2bPtwBuV66KXxl1Q%2fdjBOa7DGh8o%2bF2TCGQV5eIW7%2fU%2fzTfSOs6%2bTJyIjbpk67t9cI%2ba7vnoDxTgEf7K8RE1gcGG%2bL0Gqvg6aIfX9ekNZ6U7IJywyB6GYySumBnxgwYWMVKLcAl8Ve0Tmgstz2DSKmJNkVJDYuOX1AcfwaZKnpSOiphApFZ7vrwX%2fKNlBxCrvw8iqOIlgiHx9tBD0kZuUPx5M21aNZI%2b9aflrrkAatQ2mgjDg6fC5j8Rf2jk6zX%2bXIgq6dxayTQP2FFo83K04BfJhQW4McMWmTXb87Yhex1%2bkJBBb0LokcZHEQEIVrmrF5YXObJQq4GcaRm2UF1TflwyHItKh3%2f4Bq%2boNvv3t5A%3d%3d
Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). (no date). https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agree…
CNN Business (CNN). (2016). NAFTA Explained. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaMCK-Sec7Y
