Protectionism and Free Trade

Recorded at Mises University 2018.

Recorded at Mises University 2018.

Recorded at Mises University 2018.

Recorded at Mises University 2018.

Since the Tariff Act of 1789, the tariff has been the playground of special interests, and used as a means of rewarding political friends, and harming political enemies.

Trump's new tariffs just happen to protect certain industries that are big political donors.

Many people fail to correctly distinguish between the causes and effects of price inflation and those of monetary inflation.

Government stats on trade deficits tell only a tiny bit of the real story. 

Specialization and foreign trade are good things, even if one party to the transaction could produce everything better and cheaper than the other.

Neither the United States nor the European Union are so free of protectionist “sin” to cast retaliatory tariff stones at the other.