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Beware The Trump Trade Trap

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Economist have been debating between free trade and protectionism for decades. This debate has been most recently reiterated through President Donald Trump’s announcement that his administration would be taking steps to limit free trade in the United States. The opinion piece “Beware the Trump Trade Trap” by Liz Mair, argues that free trade is positively linked to a country’s prosperity, although most of the population may disagree with this. Mair argues that protectionism would limit consumption, however, it is important to also expand upon these ideas and to remember that free trade encourages prosperity, comparative advantage, and improves economic growth. Free trade between countries is integral for strengthening prosperity through international coalition, allowing domestic companies to directly invest in international businesses. This allows these international businesses to produce goods at lower costs which, in turn, can be exported for lower costs. This ultimately benefits both parties in the deal. Outside of production, companies can also export technological service departments. It is argued that by doing this, jobs are outsourced and taken away from domestic citizenship. However, it is important to remember that through …show more content…

Comparative advantage in economics is when a country can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost relative to other producers. It is because of this theory that output will increase because a producers within a country specializes Countries will gain the ability to maximize their efficiency and their labor force which facilitates mass-production of products, resulting in higher profits and international trade. This is because the economies of scale reduces overall cost, by producing more units. If the two countries moved towards protectionism and attempted to become self-sufficient then the production of goods would then

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