Oakland director warns about ‘extreme protectionism’

Chinese trade war would economically damage California and Washington economies, says port leader.    Chris Lytle, the executive director of the Port of Oakland, is warning about “extreme protectionism” and says a trade war with China would hurt the economies of both California and Washington state.
   Both states produce farm goods targeted by Beijing’s retaliatory tariff regime, he pointed out. Those products, ranging from fruit to nuts, are exported through the ports of Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma.
   “What’s going to happen to those commodities with higher tariffs?” Lytle asked. “Prices will go up. Demand will go down. And China’s booming market for American exports will wither.
   “Free trade has been the backbone of worldwide economic growth,” he said, calling tariffs the latest example of misguided nationalism. He said they run contrary to the advance of globalization and trade liberalization.
   “Globalization is the story of the 21st century,” Lytle said. “It has produced an era of unprecedented, worldwide economic growth.”
   He predicted that a trade war with China would result in lost jobs and lost income.
   He made his remarks during a commencement address at Central Washington University in Kent, the school Lytle graduated from in 1979. He has gone on to a career that has included running both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Oakland.
   Lytle urged graduates to embrace globalization.
   “Don’t disengage from the world — don’t be part of the illogical rush to draw the drapes and turn out the lights. We see too much of it today in Britain, Italy, France … and right here in the U.S.”