An “Economic” Approach Toward the Trade and Culture Debate: The US Position

Abstract

Negotiation of the Cultural Diversity Convention has been portrayed as but “the latest chapter in the longstanding debate over the relationship between trade and culture,” a debate that pits two radically opposing views of cultural products against each other: “One approach sees cultural products as entertainment products that are similar, in commercial terms, to any other products and therefore completely subject to the rules of international trade. The other view is that cultural products are essential instruments of social communications which convey values, ideas and meaning, and thus contribute to fashioning the cultural identity. As such, they should be excluded from the reach of international trade agreements” (Bernier, 2005).