Protectionism and Free Trade

Japan's Shinzo Abe has turned to Europe in hopes of stabilizing Japan's fiscal and and monetary situation. But Europe is a shaky foundation on which to build anything.

Tariffs and economic sanctions infringe on the fundamental, God-given right of people to trade with whomever they want.

While efforts to mandate "equality of outcome" are rightly derided, "equality of opportunity" is wrongly held up as essential. But even when we face unequal opportunities, the marketplace can still make us all better off.

This trade deal is not only vague, conditional and temporary — it will fail to stop the global economic slowdown.

If the Chinese sell us stuff and then "hoard" the money we pay them, that increases the value of the dollars we continue to hold here in the US, while also leaving us with more stuff to sell elsewhere.

Thanks to Trump's tariffs, discount stores have to raise prices — thus increasing the cost of living for ordinary Americans.

If modern claims about the harm of free trade are true, then Lincoln must have been helping the Confederacy with his military blockade.

Thatcher's infamous yet magnificent "Bruges speech," which was far from being anti-EU, was a stark warning against Brussels' power-grabbing central government.

In spite of claims they will benefit society overall, interventionist policies designed to benefit certain interest groups ultimately only help certain groups at the expense of everyone else.

The new trade agreement will be simply an amalgamation of the old NAFTA, the previously rejected TPP, and some new protectionist measures.