The Political Economy Of American Trade Protection

In 1998 and 2001, the American steel industry called twice for the federal government to use Section 201 to protect them from competition of foreign products. The Clinton administration rejected their requirement, but the Bush (G·W·Bush) administration bent to their pressure and initiated Section 201 protection. Why the reaction of these two administration were so different?This thesis tries to find answers from a trade politics perspective, by comparing the standpoints of interest groups, the attitude of government departments and the preferences of two Presidents. Though Clinton and Bush were both in favor of free trade principle, they tackled different environment of domestic trade politics changed, the Bush administration played a much more complicated game. He expected the congress to give him the trade promotion authority, in exchange with this primary trophy, he were willing to compromise with the steel interest groups. In contrast, Clinton spared himself from the protective pressure as he stopped seeking authorization of fast-track.. This is the main explanation of the differences between Clinton and Bush's reaction on Section 201 case.