Did you know free trade causes abortion, wife-beating and infertility?

Dana Milbank at the Washington Post reports:

So now we know: Free trade causes abortion, wife-beating and infertility.

This exciting new discovery was made — or, rather, made up — by the Trump White House as it sought to find arguments to justify scuttling the Trans-Pacific Partnership, NAFTA and other vehicles of international trade.

The Post’s indispensable Damian Paletta reports that the two-page document, which he obtained, was “prepared and distributed” by Peter Navarro, an economic adviser to President Trump who directs the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. It was “presented without any data or information to back up the assertions” to Trump administration officials as they deliberated over trade policy.

On a page titled “socioeconomic costs of a weakened manufacturing base,” Navarro’s document lists, among other things: “higher abortion rate,” “lower fertility rate,” “increased spousal abuse,” “lower marriage rate,” “higher divorce rate,” “higher crime,” “rising mortality rate” and “increased drug/opioid use.”

So if NZ pulls out of TPP, we’ll have less wife-beating and infertility!

Sad to see such a junk analysis coming out of the White House, of all places.