INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY. 'BUY AMERICAN' & THE FREE RIDER PROBLEM
. Joerg Bibow: "Free trade can stand only so much free riding", Financial Times

Bibow blasts "the habits of self-acclaimed free traders who would like to recharge their own economies through boosts to their trade surpluses sponsored by US taxpayers". In other words: Europe's criticism of the 'Buy American' clause masks a larger free-rider type of problem. (We will deal with such arguments when discussing international reserve currencies).