Free Trade & Trade Policy

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.

Trade Deficits Don’t Matter – Unless Caused by Government

by Richard M. Ebeling May 15, 2017

In 2016, the United States exported goods and services equal to $2.209 trillion, and imported goods and services with a market value of $2.712 trillion. The balance of trade deficit for 2016, therefore, came to $502.3 billion. The trade deficit represented a little over 10 percent of the over $4.92 trillion of total trade in goods and services between ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Folly of Trade Retaliation

by Future of Freedom Foundation April 6, 2017

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss the benefits of free trade. Go to the podcast.

Trump’s Economic Warfare Targets Innocent Bystanders

by Richard M. Ebeling April 3, 2017

An often forgotten truth is that it is not just military warfare that can cause injury to innocent bystanders, the same inescapably happens in economic warfare initiated by governments, as well. But in the latter case the human “collateral damage” is a targeted victim. On March 29, 2017, “The Wall Street Journal” ran a story highlighting the Trump Administration’s likely ...

The Libertarian Angle: Trump on Trade

by Future of Freedom Foundation November 17, 2016

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling talk about the trade policy of president-elect Donald Trump. Go to the podcast.

Free Trade versus Political Fallacies

by Richard M. Ebeling June 15, 2016

The current political campaign for the U.S. presidency has brought out the worst in both the personalities and the policy positions among many of those running for that high political office, and this has been especially the case with international trade and the global economy. Listening to the presumptive Republican and Democratic candidates for the White House, the average voter ...

Free Trade Is Fair Trade

by Laurence M. Vance June 1, 2016

As relayed by Harvard economics professor and chairman of George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, N. Gregory Mankiw, “The Princeton economist Alan Blinder once proposed Murphy’s Law of economic policy: ‘Economists have the least influence on policy where they know the most and are most agreed; they have the most influence on policy where they know the least ...

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

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 29, 2016

In this segment, Richard Ebeling and Jacob Hornberger discuss the why free trade is pragmatically a boon to civilization and ethically the only moral result when you allow people to live in freedom. Go to the podcast.

Are There Rules for Trade?

by Laurence M. Vance June 4, 2015

Barack Obama has been lobbying Congress for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as “fast-track authority,” so the executive branch can work in secret on trade deals before submitting them to Congress for a quick up-or-down vote with limited time for debate, no provision for amendments, and no possibility of a Senate filibuster. The president has made passage of the ...

Free Trade Benefits vs. Fears of Foreign Goods

by Richard M. Ebeling May 4, 2015

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke before a joint session of the U.S. Congress on April 29, 2015 and offered his “eternal condolences to the souls of all American people that were lost during World War II,” but never directly said that he was sorry for Imperial Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The real purpose ...