The United States and Globalization

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Explain the role of the U.S. in the emerging global community

In the decade following the end of the Cold War, America entered a new phase in its history marked by the globalization of its economy and a conflict over the direction of foreign and domestic policy. Since the 1990s, the United States has become increasingly tied to a worldwide network of economic, financial, and demographic relationships resulting in the nation's diversity and its interdependence. Presidential administrations of the late 20th and into the 21st encouraged economic globalization and the idea of breaking down barriers between national markets and populations.
Primarily this new phase of globalization emerged due to new communication technologies that connected people and corporations at high speeds and low costs. Of course this all comes with a level of disagreement. Opponents to globalization argued that specific conditions need to be attached to the lifting of trade barriers. They believe that integrated economies possessed several dangers, such as the fast spread of an economic crisis from one country to another. Labor union activists argue that manufacturing jobs move to developing countries because of cheap labor, lower production costs, and lower standards of working conditions. Globalization finds most of its advocates among influential officials in government, business, and the media who stand to profit from the lowering of trade barriers that open new and cheaper markets for labor and raw materials.
President Bill Clinton sought new measures to ease restrictions on international trade. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)?the largest trade organization in the world?eliminated tariffs and trade barriers among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Senate ratified the General Agreement on Tariffs and ...