Free Trade & Trade Policy

Conservatives, Free Trade, and the WTO

by Laurence M. Vance April 12, 2021

Writing for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, Anthony B. Kim says that “it’s time to get serious about reforming World Trade Organization.” Kim “researches international economic issues at The Heritage Foundation, with a strong focus on economic freedom.” He maintains that “with a new director at the ...

200th Anniversary of a Great American Demolition of Tyranny

by James Bovard February 1, 2021

This is the 200th anniversary of the publication of one of the best American books on trade policy by one of the most thoughtful and least appreciated political analysts of the Founding Fathers era. I ran into John Taylor of Caroline when I was roaming the shelves of the Library of Congress in 1987. A few weeks earlier, I had ...

Trade Deficit Baloney

by Laurence M. Vance October 14, 2020

Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to bring down America’s trade deficits. Yet, in spite of all his tariffs, the trade deficit is higher than when he took office. Is that a cause for concern? Commerce is mentioned only twice in the Constitution. The word trade does not appear at all. In Article I, Section 8, Congress is given the ...

A Progressive Case for Free Trade and against Protectionism

by Laurence M. Vance December 9, 2019

Conservative free-traders who support Donald Trump don’t talk about trade much anymore. To do so would mean that they have to criticize the president — an economic nationalist with a mercantilist mindset whose ignorance and incoherence on trade knows no bounds — and risk being labeled “Never Trumpers.” Since Trump’s election and the imposition of his protectionist trade policies, other ...

The U.S. Revives the Personal State

by Richard M. Ebeling August 28, 2019

It was French king Louis XIV (1638-1715) who famously declared, “L'etat c'est moi” (“I am the state”), indicating his insistence that he possessed absolute power over his subjects and everything else within the reaches of his domain. This week, it was clearer than usual that this is an attitude apparently shared by Donald Trump, president of the United States. America ...

How Much Damage Will Come from this Trade War?

by Richard M. Ebeling August 14, 2019

First, the good news: the U.S. and world economies have not imploded, so far, as fallout from the rising trade tensions between the Trump administration and Xi Jinping’s government in China. Now, the bad news: there is no certainty that this will not play itself out as a serious and damaging trade war between the two countries that might ...

The Libertarian Angle: Tariff-Wall Man’s Extortion of Mexico (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 13, 2019

Are barriers to both immigration and trade the hallmarks of a free society? Do they make the citizens of The United States better off? FFF president Jacob G. Hornberger and Citadel professor Richard M. Ebeling discuss. Go to the podcast.

The Libertarian Angle: The Virtues of Free Trade (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 12, 2019

Free trade is the most efficient system of resource distribution yet discovered, but more importantly, it is moral and a key feature of the free society. FFF president Jacob G. Hornberger and Citadel economics professor Richard Ebeling discuss. Go to the podcast.

The Libertarian Angle: Drug War Meets Trade War (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation January 17, 2019

What happens when you have a raging drug war and an escalating trade war? Declining freedom for everyone. FFF president Jacob G. Hornberger and Professor Richard M. Ebeling discuss. Go to the podcast.

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.