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What Are The Advantages Of Free Trade

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BENEFITS OF FREE TRADE
The benefits of free trade include:
1. The Theory of Comparative Advantage
This explains that by specializing in goods where countries have a lower opportunity cost, there can be an increase in economic welfare for all countries. Free trade enables countries to specialize in those goods where they have a comparative advantage.
2. Reducing Tariff barriers leads to trade creation
Trade creation occurs when consumption switches from high cost producers to low cost producers.
3. Increased Exports.
As well as benefits for consumers importing goods, firms exporting goods where the UK has a comparative advantage will also see a big improvement in economic welfare. Lower tariffs on UK exports will enable a higher quantity of …show more content…

Free trade policy runs smoothly if all the countries follow the same. If some countries do not adopt it, the system cannot work gainfully.
2. Free trade may prove advantageous to developed and technologically advanced nations, but less developed countries are certainly at a disadvantage on account of unfavorable terms of trade.
3. Competition induced under free trade is unfair and unhealthy. Backward countries cannot compete with advanced countries.
4. Gains of trade are not equally distributed under free trade due to unequal state of development of different countries.
5. A country with unfavorable balance of payments finds it difficult to overcome this situation under free trade policy.
6. Free trade may encourage interdependence and discourage self-sufficiency. But, in the matter of defense each country should have self-reliance and self-sufficiency as far as possible.
Despite the clamor of the classical economists about the advantages of the free trade, the policy has either not been adopted by many countries or abandoned by those who had already adopted it. Economic history indicates that for the last two centuries, international trade has developed with

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