American imports of influence

In praise of free trade, 19th century British politician Richard Cobden described it as “God’s Diplomacy,” bringing people together to prosper. Taking a page from his book, the United States has successfully applied this idea in the region, using trade to further political ends even as America’s traditional Middle East diplomacy stumbles.    This regional success for America began with the launch of the Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) model in the mid-90s, allowing joint Israeli-Jordanian output to enter the US duty-free, mandating 7 to 8 percent Israeli value-added input into a product as one condition for the trade privileges. QIZ resulted in massive Jordanian garment exports to America, reaching a peak of over a billion dollars annually. So successful was the model in promoting trade that Egypt got the same privilege — the Israeli component in the Egyptian case being 11.7 percent — and started in 2005 to sell textiles