Free Trade & Trade Policy

The Latest Conservative Defense of Tariffs

by Laurence M. Vance September 10, 2018

For many years now, some conservatives, in their magazine and web articles criticizing government-managed trade agreements such as NAFTA and CAFTA, have made veiled criticisms of free trade. But no more. Since the beginning of the year, when Donald Trump started imposing protective tariffs on selected items from certain countries, those conservatives have begun to openly criticize free trade and ...

Libertarian Lessons: Free Trade

by Scott McPherson September 7, 2018

Trade is commonly understood to be an economic activity carried on between countries, which is incorrect. Trade takes place between individuals, or groups of individuals, both domestically and across international boundaries. At its core it is the voluntary exchange of private property. Human beings must act to sustain their lives. Before industrialization the vast majority of people lived in shared poverty, their agrarian ...

The Libertarian Angle: Trump’s Tariff Welfare Plan for Farmers (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation July 25, 2018

As As Ludwig von Mises pointed out, one state intervention often leads to another. Donald Trump instituted trade tariffs and is now cutting checks to those whom the tariffs have hurt. FFF president Jacob G. Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss. Go to the podcast.

Seven Implications of Protectionism

by Laurence M. Vance July 1, 2018

In a speech on the campaign trail in 2016, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said about Hillary Clinton and trade, Hillary Clinton unleashed a trade war against the American worker when she supported one terrible deal after another, from NAFTA, to China to South Korea. It doesn’t matter. No matter where she went, the American worker was hurt and you’ll ...

The Libertarian Angle: Trade and Immigration Controls (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 26, 2018

If the free movement of goods is beneficent and desired, does that not also hold true for people? And more importantly, don't people have the right of free movement? FFF president Jacob G. Hornberger and Richard M. Ebeling discuss. Go to the podcast.

Tariff Wars and the Fallacy of the Balance of Trade

by Richard M. Ebeling June 25, 2018

The world may be on the brink of a series of trade wars between the United States and both the European Union and China. All the parties say they don’t want this — though President has asserted that trade wars are not a problem and easy to win. That remains to be seen! It may have become a cliché, but ...

The Best Answer to Trump’s Tariffs: Free Trade

by Richard M. Ebeling June 11, 2018

In the Bible it says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone . . .” It also has been said that the one who strikes the second blow starts any fight. If the world is to avoid trade wars due to tariffs being imposed by the Trump Administration, both the United States and ...

Tariff Walls and Trade Wars Equal Government Planning

by Richard M. Ebeling May 21, 2018

Trade wars are dangerous and harmful policies for governments to pursue. They hurt consumers due to higher prices and fewer alternatives; they reduce competitive opportunities for producers by restricting markets; and they narrow the benefits that come from a market-based system of division of labor in which each participant tends to devote his or her efforts to supplying the ...

Libertarian Angle: Trump’s Trade War Folly (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation April 11, 2018

Join Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling as they explore the benefits of free trade and the folly of tariffs and protectionism. Go to the podcast.

Libertarian Angle: Trump’s Tariff Folly (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 7, 2018

Do tariffs benefit a society, or is free trade the great engine of productivity and liberty? Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss President Trump's proposal for tariffs on steel and aluminum. Go to the podcast.

Trump’s Protectionist Follies Threaten a Trade War

by Richard M. Ebeling March 5, 2018

President Donald Trump has announced the planned imposition of a new, 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on foreign made aluminum entering the United States. This has brought about threats of trade retaliation by a number of America’s trading partners. The menacing clouds of a possible trade war are showing themselves on the global ...

The Libertarian Angle: Trump’s Trade Antics Abroad (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation November 14, 2017

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling talk about President Trump's folly in the realm of free trade. Go to the podcast.