Gee’s Reviews > Free Trade Doesn't Work > Status Update

Contrary to what one might expect, the United States’ retreat from the tariff was not caused by changes in policymakers’ opinions about economics. That is, there was no point at which they decided that the economics of protectionism was false and the economics of free trade was true. Rather, this retreat was driven by essentially political motives, operating in a space of economic carelessness

So it matters whether people engage in economic relations with compatriots, with whom they share a social and cultural system, or with foreigners, with whom they share only arms-length economic relations

The fact that two separate societies are involved is key. If the “decadents” in a society can borrow only from “diligents” in the same society, then every borrower creates a lender in the same society, keeping society as a whole in balance. So no amount of decadence (whatever other problems it may cause) can reduce that society’s total net worth or future consumption possibilities.

the answer to the question that haunts all criticism of free trade:
 
How can reducing people’s freedom possibly make them better off?
 
The answer is:
 
When they would use short-term freedom to hurt themselves in the long term