Editing Free trade (section)

== Alternatives ==
{{Main article|Protectionism|Imperialism}}
{{Expand section|date=February 2019}}

The following alternatives to free trade have been proposed: [[protectionism]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=protectionism {{!}} Definition, Examples, & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/protectionism|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>  [[imperialism]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Imperialism - an overview  |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/imperialism |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=ScienceDirect Topics }}</ref> [[balanced trade]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Balanced Trade - Explained |url=https://thebusinessprofessor.com/economic-analysis-monetary-policy/balanced-trade-definition |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=The Business Professor, LLC}}</ref> [[fair trade]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Geoff |date=2004 |title=The Fair Trade Movement: Parameters, Issues and Future Research |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25123283 |journal=Journal of Business Ethics |volume=53 |issue=1/2 |pages=73–86 |doi=10.1023/B:BUSI.0000039400.57827.c3 |jstor=25123283 |s2cid=55108569 |issn=0167-4544}}</ref> and [[industrial policy]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cimoli |first1=Mario |last2=Dosi |first2=Giovanni |last3=Landesmann |first3=Michael A. |last4=Mazzucato |first4=Mariana |last5=Page |first5=Tim |last6=Pianta |first6=Mario |last7=Stiglitz |first7=Joseph E. |last8=Walz |first8=Rainer |date=2015 |title=Which Industrial Policy Does Europe Need? |url=https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2015/number/3/article/which-industrial-policy-does-europe-need.html |journal=Intereconomics |language=en |volume=2015 |issue=3 |pages=120–155}}</ref>

Under balanced trade, nations are required to provide a fairly even reciprocal trade pattern; they cannot run large [[trade deficit]]s or trade surpluses. Fair trade involves allowing trade but taking into account other interests, such as [[dirigisme]], protecting [[labor rights]], [[environmentalism]], etc.

=== Protectionism ===
Protectionism involves [[tariffs]] to protect domestic goods and industry from international competition, and to raise government revenue in lieu of other forms of [[taxation]].

In 1846, the United Kingdom abolished the [[Corn Laws]] (which had restricted import of grain), in response to the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|famine in Ireland]] and other domestic pressures over food prices. It also reduced protectionism for manufactures, but only in the mid 19th century when its technological advantage was at its height. 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"/> The [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 presidential election]] marked the beginning of the trend  of returning to protectionism in the United States, an ideology incorporated into Republican president [[Donald Trump]]'s platform and largely maintained by his successor [[Joe Biden]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Swedberg |first=Richard|date=2018|title=Folk economics and its role in Trump's presidential campaign: an exploratory study|journal=Theory and Society|volume=47|issue=1 |pages=1–36|doi=10.1007/s11186-018-9308-8|s2cid=149378537}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/biden-struggles-to-push-trade-deals-with-allies-as-election-approaches-fc512595?mod=RSSMSN|title=Biden Struggles to Push Trade Deals with Allies as Election Approaches|website=The Wall Street Journal|first=Yuka|last=Hayashi|date=December 28, 2023}}</ref>

=== Imperialism ===
Imperialism entails [[unequal exchange]] for the benefit of the [[mother country]], often at the expense of the colonies. The imperial trade practices of the [[British Empire|British]] and [[Spanish Empire]]s were contributing factors to the [[American Revolution]] and the [[Spanish American Wars of Independence]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Miller |first=John C. |title=Origins of the American Revolution |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofamerica00mill |url-access=registration |location= Boston |publisher= Little, Brown and company |date= 1943 |ol=6453380M }}, pp. 95–99</ref><ref>Lynch, ''Spanish American Revolutions'', 27–34. Rodríguez, ''Independence of Spanish America'', 14–18. Kinsbruner, ''Independence in Spanish America'', 14–17, 23.</ref>

[[Belgian Empire|Belgium]] also engaged in unequal exchange, most notoriously in the [[Congo Free State]] (CFS) under [[Leopold II of Belgium|King Leopold II]]. In direct violation of his promises of free trade within the CFS under the terms of the [[Berlin Conference|Berlin Treaty]], not only did the CFS become a commercial entity directly or indirectly trading within its dominion, but Leopold had also been slowly monopolizing a considerable amount of the ivory and rubber trade by imposing export duties on the resources traded by other merchants within the CFS.<ref>{{cite book |first=Adam |last=Hochschild |author-link=Adam Hochschild |title=King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa |title-link=King Leopold's Ghost |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-74329-160-3}}</ref>