Not a Zero-Sum Game - Ludwig von Mises Institute

NOT A ZERO-SUM GAME
Free trade means the ability of producers to exchange their wares
with anyone on the globe for other goods without some govern-
ment standing in the way of some of those exchanges due to the
country of origin of the goods involved. It requires no more laws
or institutions than are necessary to provide standard protection of
the property rights of all involved in the exchange. It is the appli-
cation of laissez faire across international borders: nothing more,
nothing less.
Multivolume documents paying lip service to free trade but for-
bidding transactions by parties whose competitive advantages are
considered by some to be unfair are the antithesis of free trade no
matter how many times the words free trade appear in their pages.
That managed trade proponents hide the nature of their policy pref-
erences under the cloak of free trade reveals their utter shameless-
ness. It also suggests that the free trade side is winning the battle
of ideas.