U.S. Farmers Get a Lesson In Global Trade (washingtonpost.com): "Edward Gresser, a trade expert at the Progressive Policy Institute. 'But we get foreigners to make the same sort of promises to us.' As an illustration, he cited China, which joined the WTO in 2001.
'In 2000, American cotton farmers earned $46 million from selling cotton to China,' Gresser said. 'In 2003, they earned $733 million from selling cotton to China, and in just the first two months of 2004, they earned $428 million. This is because the Chinese agreed to join the WTO, and made a series of promises to open their markets to the world's cotton. So [even for] cotton farmers, there's a pretty big payoff in our being a member of this organization.' "