Free Trade or Protectionism?

These eight essays on free trade and protectionism were written for a variety of publications over the twenty-year period from 1996 to 2016. Throughout these essays, there are ten things relating to trade, free trade, and protectionism that resonate: 1. Trade is simply engaging in commerce with some foreign entity. 2. The trade deficit is a government accounting fiction. 3. Trade does not need to be managed by the government. 4. Trade does not result in winners and losers; it is always mutually beneficial or it would not take place. 5. Free trade means that trade is conducted without being hindered by tariffs, quotas, barriers, regulations, restrictions, or dumping rules. 6. Free trade does not destroy jobs, industries, or communities. 7. Free trade is fair trade whenever it doesn't involve government subsidies, crony capitalism, or a government import-export bank. 8. Free trade needs no trade organizations, trade agreements, or trade treaties. 9. All forms and levels of protectionism require government central planning. 10. Free trade is ultimately about freedom.