{"id":1143977,"date":"2019-10-10T16:00:37","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T21:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyreckoning.com\/?p=108143"},"modified":"2019-10-10T16:00:37","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T21:00:37","slug":"the-nationalist-case-for-free-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1143977","title":{"rendered":"The Nationalist Case for Free Trade?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post The Nationalist Case for Free Trade?<\/a> appeared first on Daily Reckoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Is there a nationalist case for free trade?<\/p>\n

That is the question we tackle today, as our thoughts turn to trade…<\/p>\n

United States and Chinese trade officials are presently huddled at Washington.<\/p>\n

Talks had also been scheduled for Friday. Markets took fright yesterday when it appeared China\u2019s negotiators would back away this evening.<\/p>\n

But this morning the president announced he will meet with China\u2019s vice premier tomorrow as planned.<\/p>\n

The algorithms that run the stock market sniffed out the news. And the Dow Jones was rapidly 160 points in green territory.<\/p>\n

It could not sustain its velocity. But it nonetheless put in a 150-point gain on the day.<\/p>\n

The S&P gained 18 points, while the Nasdaq added 47.<\/p>\n

Gold, meantime, took a good slating today \u2014 down over $14.<\/p>\n

Diminished Expectations<\/b><\/h2>\n

The president informed reporters this afternoon that today\u2019s negotiations “went very well.”<\/p>\n

But we have dim hopes the warring parties will come to terms this week. Too much light separates and divides them.<\/p>\n

Reports the South China Morning Post<\/i>:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe U.S. has not changed its extensive and rigorous requests for China, nor has it responded to China\u2019s core concerns,\u201d Renmin University international relations professor Shi Yinhong said.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cEven if there is a deal, it could only be a mini-deal, even a minimal mini-deal.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps both sides will agree to further talks\u2026 and so dangle another pretty plum before the stock market.<\/p>\n

Hope \u2014 as is said \u2014 springs eternal.<\/p>\n

But to return to this question:<\/p>\n

Is there a nationalist case for free trade?<\/p>\n

Borders Are Obsolete<\/b><\/h2>\n

Free trade is broadly considered a one-worlder\u2019s project.<\/p>\n

Many of its drummers, buglers and trumpeters fancy themselves citizens of the world.<\/p>\n

They read their sheet music from The Economist<\/i> or Financial Times<\/i> \u2014 the latter of which exhorts each reader to \u201cbe a global citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their attachments are loose\u2026 as are their national loyalties.<\/p>\n

Borders are obsolete, they bellow.<\/p>\n

Borders choke the free flow of goods and people. Borders divide rather than unite.<\/p>\n

Meantime, free trade laughs at borders\u2026 and joins the world in a happy embrace.<\/p>\n

Only Donald Trump\u2019s corn-fed, stump-toothed, mouth-breathing \u201cdeplorables\u201d are against it.<\/p>\n

But to many of these cosmopolitans, free trade is a mere stalking horse for a larger political project.<\/p>\n

That project is global governance. And national sovereignty is in the way.<\/p>\n

They must therefore knock down fences… and open up borders.<\/p>\n

But as economist Joseph Salerno notes, these globalists cannot claim free trade as their own.<\/p>\n

Free trade \u2014 in fact \u2014 has a direct ancestry in nationalism.<\/p>\n

The Nationalist Case for Free Trade<\/b><\/h2>\n

Here are some of free trade\u2019s original drummers:<\/p>\n

Adam Smith, David Hume, David Ricardo and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Bastiat \u2014 giants all.<\/p>\n

Yet they took the national view. Salerno:<\/p>\n

\n

Despite their devotion to free trade, the classical economists were nationalists. They viewed free trade as one of the most important means for advancing the security, prosperity and cultural achievements of their own nations\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

[They] recognized the existence of profound differences among nations and nationalities and loved their own nations above all others\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here Salerno cites economist Razeen Sally, chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies:<\/p>\n

\n

Hume and Smith stick to considerations of the nation and the national interest as practical objects of analysis. This is a point of absolutely vital importance. Note that Smith does not expatiate on the wealth of \u201cthe world\u201d; rather he focuses on the wealth of nations\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

This then is the context for Smith\u2019s advocacy of unilateral free trade, which the 19th-century classical economists believe in as well: One or a number of nations adopt free trade independently in their own interest; others, also acting in their self-interest, are likely to follow the example of pioneering free trading nations once the benefits of such a policy become readily apparent.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Next we come to 20th-century British economist Lionel Robbins:<\/p>\n

\n

There is little evidence that [the classical economists] often went beyond the test of national advantage as a criterion of policy, still less that they were prepared to contemplate the dissolution of national bonds… I find no trace anywhere in their writings of the vague cosmopolitanism with which they are often credited…<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In yet further defense of nationalist free trade, Salerno shovels up the bones of economist Edmund Silberner (dates 1910\u20131985):<\/p>\n

\n

Though hostile to militarism, [the classical economists] make it clear that their attitude is opposed neither to an enlightened patriotism nor to the principle of nationalities…<\/i><\/p>\n

Despite their abhorrence of war, the classical economists, \u201cwith a few exceptions,\u201d were \u201copposed or hostile\u201d to surrendering national sovereignty to a \u201csupernational peace organization.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Thus rests the prosecution \u2014 free trade was conceived in the national interest.<\/p>\n

Yet today\u2019s one-worlders have twisted, bent and stretched free trade out of all semblance.<\/p>\n

They peddle a counterfeit good\u2026 at least by the lights of the classical economists.<\/p>\n

We are heart and soul for free trade. But not because we are globalist.<\/p>\n

The Freeman\u2019s Defense of Free Trade<\/b><\/h2>\n

As a citizen of the freest nation Providence has ever set down upon this Earth\u2026 we instead take our stand upon the \u201cdon\u2019t tread on me\u201d American tradition.<\/p>\n

If a Canadian is willing to sell us cheaper timber than anyone else, what authority should stand between us?<\/p>\n

If a Chilean is willing to sell us cheaper grapes than anyone else, what authority is to deny us them?<\/p>\n

If a Chinaman is willing to sell us cheaper gewgaws than anyone else\u2026 what authority can order us to reach deeper into our pocket?<\/p>\n

Who indeed.<\/p>\n

Thus we speak our piece for free trade \u2014 in the defiant spirit of American liberty.<\/p>\n

Here we set aside all economic consideration. But let us next turn toward them.<\/p>\n

Is the United States winning its trade war with China?<\/p>\n

Tune in tomorrow…<\/p>\n

Regards,<\/p>\n

Brian Maher
\nManaging editor, The Daily Reckoning<\/i><\/p>\n

The post The Nationalist Case for Free Trade?<\/a> appeared first on Daily Reckoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post The Nationalist Case for Free Trade?<\/a> appeared first on Daily Reckoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Is there a nationalist case for free trade? That is the question we tackle today, as our thoughts turn to trade… United States and Chinese trade officials are presently huddled at Washington. Talks had also been scheduled for Friday. Markets took fright yesterday when it appeared China’s negotiators would back away this evening. But this […]<\/p>\n

The post The Nationalist Case for Free Trade?<\/a> appeared first on Daily Reckoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[366,463],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1143977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dailyreckoning","category-the-daily-reckoning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1143977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1143978,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143977\/revisions\/1143978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1143977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1143977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1143977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}