Indian Companies bought 374 American companies, Trade is a Two way Street.

India is creating Jobs in the US in a big way. That is not the main stream thinking but is what is evident from what Som Mittal has shared in his Opinion piece in Seatle times. Indian Companies have made $20 Billion worth of investment in US in the last 5 years, and this has created 65,000 jobs in the US. The benefit of Free Trade moves both ways as is evident from what we are seeing here. While the IT industry and the ITES industry in India has surely benefited from outsourcing from the US, trade it is evident is a two way street.

Som Mittal's Opinion piece Link , has a lot of other interesting data as well, and concludes with this, "Outsourcing should not be seen as a fulcrum of the Indo-U.S. relations," said Rajan Mittal, president of FICCI. "The relations need to be judged in their totality."

One needs to always remember that when people or nations trade there is creation of value overall, and for both parties. After all when people trade, and specialize, David Richardo's theory of Comparative Advantage sets in and all involved benefit. It is only when people forget this that the protectionist mindsets set in. This reminds me of a wonderful Ted Talk that I heard recently, on how this concept of exchange is so fundamental for Human progress.  \

Here is the talk by Matt Ridley, on "When Idea's have Sex."

The problem with free trade is not really with Free Trade itself, but how rapidly an industry might change and the loss of jobs, because of inability of people to get re-skilled. The answer to this might actually be an environment which encourages free flow of information, people, and trade, so that changes happen over a period of time rather than in sudden bursts.

It is sad that the downturn is encouraging a lot of people to make protectionist statement, when the solution might actually lie in the reverse posturing. Since the only way one can create value is through exchange.