Local trade accords and History: Great article.
It\'s funny how the British Empire is looked on as a body that developed under Free trade. The British established their dominance over shipping using
The Navigation Acts
before freeing their trade. They also industrialised earlier than everyone else so they had an advantage which meant that they didn\'t need to protect their markets as much. They may have also used the Empire, in particular India, as a place to ship their goods to that other European powers and the US weren\'t allowed to do.
I\'ve asked Cam this before, but my question to anyone who supports universal free trade is this: Is there any large state that developed without protection?
In the past 50 years one part of the world, Asia, has developed far more rapidly than anywhere else. And Asia uses trade to it\'s advantage but cleverly and sharply protects their own markets. Japan is the classic example, making sure that they have their own standards and having the highest per capita agricultural subsidies in the World.
Another thing about trade is the importance of Free Trade Areas, which do appear to work. Surely the EU has been a success and an important development. And has the EU really undermined Free Trade or shown that something more than bilateral but less than completely multi-lateral can work.
Perhaps African countries should develop free trade areas between themselves. Has this occurred?
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