Editing Free trade (section)

=== Modern era ===
{{Main|World Trade Organization|List of multilateral free trade agreements|List of bilateral free trade agreements}}
[[File:1 singapore city skyline dusk panorama 2011.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|[[Singapore]] is the top country in the [[Global Enabling Trade Report|Enabling Trade Index]].]]
{{neoliberalism sidebar}}

Most countries in the world are members of the [[World Trade Organization]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Members and Observers|url=http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org6_e.htm|publisher=World Trade Organisation|access-date=3 January 2011}}</ref> which limits in certain ways but does not eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers. Most countries are also members of regional free trade areas that lower trade barriers among participating countries. The European Union and the United States are negotiating a [[Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership]]. in 2018, the [[Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership]] came into force, which includes eleven countries that have borders on the [[Pacific Ocean]].

==== Degree of free trade policies ====
Free trade may apply to trade in [[goods and services]]. Non-economic considerations may inhibit free trade as a country may espouse free trade in principle but ban certain drugs, such as [[ethanol]], or certain practices, such as [[prostitution]], and limiting international free trade.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ditmore|first1=Melissa Hope|title=Encyclopedia of prostitution and sex work|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLpZAAAAYAAJ|publisher=Greenwood Press|date=2006|page=581|isbn=978-0313329685|access-date=1 June 2018|quote=Let us by all means apply the sacred principles of free trade to trade in vice, and regulate the relations of the sexes by the higgling of the market and the liberty of private contract.}}</ref>

Some degree of protectionism is nevertheless the norm throughout the world. From 1820 to 1980, the average tariffs on manufactures in twelve industrial countries ranged from 11 to 32%. In the developing world, average tariffs on manufactured goods are approximately 34%.<ref>Chang (2003), ''Kicking Away the Ladder'', p. 66</ref> The American economist [[C. Fred Bergsten]] devised the bicycle theory to describe [[trade policy]]. According to this model, trade policy is dynamically unstable in that it constantly tends towards either liberalization or protectionism. To prevent falling off the bike (the disadvantages of protectionism), trade policy and [[multilateral trade negotiations]] must constantly pedal towards greater liberalization. To achieve greater liberalization, decision makers must appeal to the greater welfare for consumers and the wider national economy over narrower parochial interests. However, Bergsten also posits that it is also necessary to compensate the losers in trade and help them find new work as this will both reduce the backlash against globalization and the motives for trades unions and politicians to call for protection of trade.<ref>Destler, Mac and Noland, Marcus (July 2, 2014). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237246444_Constant_Ends_Flexible_Means_C_Fred_Bergsten_and_the_Quest_for_Open_Trade Constant Ends, Flexible Means: C. Fred Bergsten and the Quest for Open Trade]. [[Peterson Institute for International Economics]].</ref>

[[File:20041120-1 bushchinamtg-1-515h.jpg|thumb|[[George W. Bush]] and [[Hu Jintao]] of China meet while attending an [[Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation|APEC]] summit in Santiago de Chile, 2004.]]

In ''Kicking Away the Ladder'', development economist [[Ha-Joon Chang]] reviews the history of free trade policies and economic growth and notes that many of the now-industrialized countries had significant barriers to trade throughout their history. The United States and Britain, sometimes considered the homes of free trade policy, employed protectionism to varying degrees at all times. Britain abolished the [[Corn Laws]] which restricted import of grain in 1846 in response to domestic pressures and reduced protectionism for manufactures only in the mid 19th century when its technological advantage was at its height, but tariffs on manufactured products had returned to 23% by 1950. The United States maintained weighted average tariffs on manufactured products of approximately 40–50% up until the 1950s, augmented by the natural protectionism of high transportation costs in the 19th century.<ref name="auto">Chang (2003), ''Kicking Away the Ladder'', p. 17</ref> The most consistent practitioners of free trade have been Switzerland, the Netherlands and to a lesser degree Belgium.<ref>Chang (2003), ''Kicking Away the Ladder'', p. 59</ref> Chang describes the [[export-oriented industrialization]] policies of the [[Four Asian Tigers]] as "far more sophisticated and fine-tuned than their historical equivalents".<ref>Chang (2003), ''Kicking Away the Ladder'', p. 50</ref>

===== Free trade in goods =====
{{Main|Global Enabling Trade Report}}

The Global Enabling Trade Report measures the factors, policies and services that facilitate the trade in goods across borders and to destinations. The index summarizes four sub-indexes, namely market access; border administration; transport and communications infrastructure; and business environment. As of 2016, the top 30 countries and areas were the following:<ref>[http://reports.weforum.org/global-enabling-trade-report-2016/enabling-trade-rankings/ "Global Enabling Trade Index"].</ref>

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