U.S. Proposes Benchmark for Limiting Trade Imbalances

The New York Times reports on the rise of mercantilism:

The Obama administration on Friday urged the world’s biggest economies to set a numerical limit on their trade imbalances, in a major new effort to broker an international consensus on how to handle festering exchange-rate tensions.

Officials from Britain, Canada and Australia quickly expressed support for the idea, but Germany expressed resistance and Japan seemed ambivalent.

Less free trade means more power for politicians.