Elizabeth Warren announced an agenda Tuesday that she calls a plan for “economic patriotism.” Warren argues against claims that “globalization” or “automation” or a “skills gap” are causing job losses in the United States. She blames, instead, Washington policies.
To reverse these policies, she proposes a new “Department of Economic Development " that would: “replace the Commerce Department, subsume other agencies like the Small Business Administration and the Patent and Trademark Office, and include research and development programs, worker training programs, and export and trade authorities like the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The new Department will have a single goal: creating and defending good American jobs.”
Warren is stepping into a lively debate over the causes of job losses in the United States. Her initiative also speaks to a debate in political science about a rough bipartisan consensus on trade and industrial policy that has dominated U.S. politics for decades — and whether this consensus is fracturing.
Read the full piece at The Washington Post.