Treat fair and reciprocal trade as the condition for free trade
What the document says“whoever is the next President in 2025 should heed this critical principle whenever the flag of free trade is waved to prevent the adoption of needed reforms.”
The principle in question is that there can be no free trade without fair, reciprocal and balanced trade. The essay presents it as a guard against free trade arguments being used to block reform, and argues elsewhere that trade deficits matter to national security because a current account deficit must be offset by foreign investment in the United States.
What the document actually says“whoever is the next President in 2025 should heed this critical principle whenever the flag of free trade is waved to prevent the adoption of needed reforms.”
Some wave the free trade flag to block change. The next president should not fall for it.
This essay says trade must be fair before it is free. It says people use the words free trade to stop changes. It warns the next president about that.
This chapter contains the opposing case. 'The Case for Free Trade', by Kent Lassman, argues the reverse: that tariffs have backfired, that trade policy is the wrong tool for industrial goals, and that the next Administration should ignore what it calls populist ideologues seeking protection. Neither essay is presented as the chapter's conclusion.
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