The Wall Street Journal-20080215--They- Do Better-

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'They' Do Better?

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May I add one comment to David Ranson's excellent op-ed "The Candidates and Trade" (Feb. 6)?

Surveys we have conducted over the years in North America, Europe and Japan have always found that most people support "free trade" if it is perceived to be fair. However, in every country most people do not believe it is fair.

The rhetoric of populist politicians and nationalistic media bias cause most people, here and abroad, to believe that their countries are the victims of unfair trade.

For example, our surveys in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. found that majorities in all three countries believed that Nafta was benefiting the other two countries much more than their own, and that they were uniquely the victims of an unfair trade agreement, implausible as that may seem. The same was true in Japan. At a time when most Americans were convinced that Japan's policies were unfairly protectionist and that ours were not, the Japanese believed the opposite.

Humphrey Taylor

Chairman

The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive

New York