To someone new to the scene, it might seem as if both major parties are engaged in a war on exports.
Democrats took the offensive first, trying to kill an emerging Pan-Pacific trade agreement just as American manufacturers have become highly competitive and are looking for new markets overseas.
Now some Republicans have gotten into the act, too. They’re out to kill the Export-Import Bank of the United States, an agency that provides financing for foreign buyers of American goods. If they succeed, it will be a monumentally stupid, self-inflicted wound to the economy.
The bank’s charter expired at the end of June. It’s in a kind of limbo waiting for Washington to find some reason to renew it. The bank won’t be able to make or back any new loans, and it will soon wither and die if Congress doesn’t act.