Jun 24, 2017 • 17M

Trump Vs. Free Trade with Richard Epstein

 
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Bob Zadek
Bob talks about the issues that affect our lives on a daily basis from a purely libertarian standpoint. He believes in small government, fewer taxes, and greater personal freedom.<br /><br />America has lost its way, but it cannot and does not need to be reinvented. Our founders were correct about their approach to government, as were John Locke, Adam Smith and the other great political philosophers who influenced them. The country’s first principles are economic and social freedom, republicanism, the rule of law, and liberty. Bob believes we must take the best of our founding principles and work from them because a country without principles is just a landmass.
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Take a guess who said the following:

"I believe strongly in free trade but it also has to be FAIR TRADE.”

If it weren’t for the all-caps giveaway at the end, the above tweet from President Trump’s could just as easily have come from his predecessor in the Oval Office, or even Bernie Sanders. To many, the statement appears perfectly sound. After all, we expect fairness in our personal dealings with others; our deals with global trading partners would seem to be no exception. Senior Hoover Institution Fellow and NYU Law Professor Richard Epstein says that fairness should guide our trade policy, but that the classical liberal view of fairness happens to align with free trade. Fraud and coercion are certainly unfair practices, but mutually beneficial trade among willing buyers and sellers is not only fair, but is the very source of our wealth and prosperity. Epstein is known for his erudite commentary on law, politics and economics. He recently discussed Trump’s wrong-headed approach to trade on his Hoover Podcast The Libertarian. In this episode, the Professor is in. Richard and Bob will discuss the threat of an escalating trade war, and the value of free trade in keeping state and federal policymakers in line when it comes to domestic policies that would harm U.S. competitiveness.

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