PARIS — On both sides of the Atlantic, many view economic globalization as a threat to below-average earners.
According to a recent poll by the German Marshall Fund, majorities in France, Germany and the United States favor maintaining existing trade barriers, even if doing so hampers economic growth. Clearly, the large net gains from global economic integration are not enough to convince those who have lost their jobs and the many others who feel at risk.
The recently established European Globalization Adjustment Fund (EGF) is an EU-wide response to this challenge. The EGF can spend up to 500 million euro annually in EU member states on workers affected by trade-induced layoffs. But sharing the benefits of globalization with the losers is traditionally regarded as a national responsibility.
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