A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Senator Jon Kyl is one of the most respected, hardest working, most intelligent members of the United States Senate and so he has been on my list of favorite Senators for quite a while. He routinely masters difficult and complicated issues and shows a genuine love and respect for policy and detail that allows him to make--along with his underlying political philosophy--smart decisions.

Which is why I am so surprised to find that he decided to vote against the free trade deal with Peru. And I am surprised--and disappointed--to find that he did it for protectionist reasons.

Of course, as Senator Kyl points out, the protection of property rights is highly important in any civilized society worthy of the name. One cannot have a free market society without the respect for property rights being an essential pillar of that society. But one does not take that position and use it to encourage intellectual property protectionism that seeks to force the harmonization of an intellectual property framework irrespective of the laws of trading partners or the general proposition that an American intellectual property rights regime may not be the best regime around.

Unlike Jesse Walker, I have no problem with bilateral trade agreements--in an increasingly protectionist world where salutary mechanisms like the Doha round are being undermined or have trouble starting up, bilateral trade agreements may be the best way to strengthen the cause of free trade. But bilateral trade agreements should not be used to force other countries to accept our intellectual property rights regime at the point of a gun. Senator Kyl is wrong on this issue. Here's hoping he changes his position.