In favor of FREE TRADE: 'A SPLENDID EXCHANGE' AND SOCIETY GAIN

摘要

The CETA deal with the European Union highlights how free trade can be a large and unambiguous net gain for society. Remember the Luddites? They were the group of British industrial workers in the early 1880s led by Ned Ludd who, fearing for their jobs, demonstrated against the introduction of new machinery in the textile industry. There were some job losses of course, but the increase in productivity gave rise to phenomenal growth in that sector. Protectionism (withdrawal behind tariff and related barriers) was, and indeed still is, another example of active resistance to change. Eichengreen/Irwm writing in 2009 described it as "destructive and counterproductive" and we saw an example of this in the 1930s depression, which would have been less severe with freer trade. Even now governments, particularly after the 2008 financial crisis, are putting up barriers in what The Economist refers to as the "Gated Globe," noting in a Global Trade Alert that "400 protectionist measures have been introduced each year since 2008, and the trend is increasing." While this practice is worse in emerging markets such as Brazil, India and Russia, even Canada is not guiltless, with restrictions on certain foreign investments and, of course, supply management.