What is the Opposite of a Trade War?

One of the best ways to appreciate the virtues of free international trade is to listen to one of Ronald Reagan’s speeches. In addition to his eloquent warning cited in the beginning of this chapter, Ronald Reagan also described “open trade policy” as “one of the key factors behind our nation’s prosperity.” He said that free international trade has “proven itself in the real world where we have seen free trading nations prosper while protectionist countries fall behind.”

We all agree that Mr. Trump does not talk this way about international trade. But we should also agree to put aside any love or hate for these men while we look at their policy records. Both Reagan and Trump were television entertainers before they were politicians, so their rhetoric may not necessarily reflect actual policies.


The conclusions are surprising. Read more in my new book You're Hired! Untold Successes and Failures of a Populist President. A first rough draft of Reagan vs. Trump on international trade is on my blog.