Trump's Protectionism Is Mutual Masochism

Trump's Protectionism Is Mutual Masochism
AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File

The logical and moral case for free trade, whether it's inter-personal, international, or intra-national, is that it's mutually beneficial. Unless one opposes gain per se or assumes exchange is win-lose (a “zero-sum” game), one should herald trade. Apart from self-sacrificing altruists, no one trades voluntarily unless it benefits oneself.

Trade also relies on and promotes peace, since it entails a perpetual reconciliation of different opinions. People trade precisely because they disagree about estimates of value.  For example, if I spend $800 for a smart phone, I value the phone more than the $800, while the seller values the $800 more than the phone. We trade, in part, due to differing relative valuations; if we didn't so differ, we wouldn't trade.

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