在美国,与在许多公共政策问题上的意见各异形成对照的是,绝大多数的经济学家都支持自由贸易政策。然而,却有来自政治领域的左翼和右翼的相当数量的社会公众反对自由贸易政策。自由贸易能够增加经济福利,使许多人尤其是消费者获益,但同时也会给某些产业和某个阶层的人群带来损害。经济学家和社会公众对自由贸易问题考虑的角度和侧重点不同,相对于经济学家,公众更强调的是代价而不是利益,加之美国在贸易问题上往往掺杂其他的非贸易因素,由此导致现实中不同的贸易政策取向。 In the United States, in contrast to the various opinions on many public policy issues, the vast majority of economists support free trade policies. However, there are a considerable number of people from the political and left-wing sectors of the right who oppose free trade policies. Free trade can increase economic welfare, benefit many people, especially consumers, but at the same time it can also bring damage to certain industries and people in certain sectors. Economists and the public have different perspectives and focuses on the issue of free trade. Compared with economists, the public emphasizes more on costs than benefits, and on the issue of trade, the United States tends to infuse other non-trade factors. This led to different trade policy orientations in reality.