Free Trade Quotes

• Manufacturing and commercial monopolies owe their origin not to a tendency imminent in a capitalist economy but to governmental interventionist policy directed against free trade and laissez faire.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Capitalist Economy, Liberty, Libertarian

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• Free trade has been proven, time and again, as a reliable path to economic development. It pushes the public and private sectors alike toward greater accountability and transparency. It lifts people out of poverty, and while it can force unsettling changes on a society, those changes prove to be worthwhile in a very short time.

  Jonah Goldberg

  People, Accountability, Development

  5 Copy quote

• Our free trade plan is quite simple. We say that every [citizen] shall have the right to buy whatever he wants, wherever he wants, at his own good pleasure, without restriction or discouragement from the state.

  Winston Churchill

  Simple, Citizens, Want

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• Free trade is not based on utility but on justice.

  Edmund Burke

  Justice, Trade, Utility

  "Thoughts and Details on Scarcity" by Edmund Burke, 1795.

  17 Copy quote

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• Complete free trade is not politically feasible. Why? Because it's only in the general interest and in no one's special interest.

  Milton Friedman

  Special, Interest, Trade

  8 Copy quote

• Globalization and free trade do spur economic growth, and they lead to lower prices on many goods.

  Robert Reich

  Philosophy, Political, Growth

  19 Copy quote

• Free trade or the free market means the sovereignty of the consumer.

  Faustino Ballve

  Mean, Free Market, Sovereignty

  6 Copy quote

• I believe in free trade, but I really believe in making great deals for the United States.

  Donald Trump

  Believe, United States, Trade

  Source: townhall.com

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• In a word, the free trade system hastens the social revolution. It is in this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen, that I vote in favor of free trade.

  Karl Marx

  Historical, Gentleman, Revolution

  Karl Marx, David McLellan (2000). “Karl Marx: Selected Writings”, p.296, Oxford University Press, USA

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• Free trade is not a principle, it is an expedient.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Principles, Politics, Trade

  7 Copy quote

• Free trade, one of the greatest blessings which a government can confer on a people, is in almost every country unpopular.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Country, Blessing, Government

  "Essay on Mitford's History of Greece" by Thomas B. Macaulay, 1824.

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• The message from history is so blatantly obvious - that free trade causes mutual prosperity while protectionism causes poverty - that it seems incredible that anybody ever thinks otherwise. There is not a single example of a country opening its borders to trade and ending up poorer.

  Matt Ridley

  Country, Thinking, Example

  7 Copy quote

• 'Capitalism' is a dirty word for many intellectuals, but there are a number of studies showing that open economies and free trade are negatively correlated with genocide and war.

  Steven Pinker

  War, Dirty, Numbers

  7 Copy quote

• Free trade is the serial killer of American manufacturing and the Trojan Horse of world government. It is the primrose path to the loss of economic independence and national sovereignty. Free trade is a bright, shining lie.

  Pat Buchanan

  Horse, Lying, Loss

  "Where the right went wrong". Book by Pat Buchanan, 2001.

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• We need to fight protectionism with everything that we have because when there's a level playing field and when you have open markets and when free trade is flourishing, American workers, American farmers, Americans are going to benefit.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Fighting, Needs, Level Playing Field

  Source: www.cnbc.com

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• Free trade should not mean free labor.

  Stephen F. Lynch

  Mean, Should, Trade

  7 Copy quote

• Rich countries have 'kicked away the ladder' by forcing free-market, free-trade policies on poor countries. Already established countries do not want more competitors emerging through the nationalistic policies they themselves successfully used in the past.

  Ha-Joon Chang

  Country, Past, Rich Countries

  Ha-Joon Chang (2008). “Bad Samaritans: The Guilty Secrets of Rich Nations and the Threat to Global Prosperity”, p.61, Random House

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• The history of capitalism has been so totally re-written that many people in the rich world do not perceive the historical double standards involved in recommending free trade and free market to developing countries.

  Ha-Joon Chang

  Country, People, Historical

  Ha-Joon Chang (2007). “Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism”, Bloomsbury Press

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• The ability to provide choices and the right to make choices that prove not detrimental, are the fundamental ingredients of free trade and independence.

  John Truman Stoddert

  Freedom, Choices, Independence

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• Free trade is very important if we respect equality among nations.

  Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

  Equality, Important, Trade

  "Americas summit ends in stalemate / U.S. vision for free-trade zone thwarted by 5 of 34 nations; no date for more talks" by Patrick J. McDonnell, Edwin Chen, www.sfgate.com. November 6, 2005.

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• Everyone asks for freedom for himself,
  The man free love, the businessman free trade,
  The writer and talker free speech and free press.

  Robert Frost

  Freedom, Men, Speech

  Robert Frost (1936). “A Further Range”

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• I'm not against free trade but I'm against free trade deals that are negotiated badly, that actually compromise jobs, manufacturing jobs, compromise the national interest.

  Nick Xenophon

  Jobs, Compromise, Interest

  Source: www.abc.net.au

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• When you're in an economic downturn, what you want is to create jobs and economic growth. And the recipe isn't Republican or Democrat. It's low taxes, low spending, less regulation, free trade.

  Nancy Pfotenhauer

  Jobs, Growth, Recipes

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• There is a phrase in trade theory; it's called "kicking away the ladder." First you violate the rules - the market rules - and then by the time you succeed in developing, you kick away the ladders so others can't do it too, and you preach about "free trade."

  Noam Chomsky

  Kicking, Phrases, Ladders

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• NAFTA and GATT have about as much to do with free trade as the Patriot Act has to do with liberty.

  Michael Badnarik

  Liberty, Usa Patriot Act, Trade

  103 Copy quote