Free Trade Pros And Cons

There are many controversies surrounding free trade, especially because there are no regulations in free trade. Yet by many economist free trade is very helpful for the economy, and to prove it there are many countries now that have benefited from adopting free trade ideas. The United States is one of several countries that has adopted free trade and has truly seen a growth in their economy because of it. The United States has now made many trade agreements that has highly influenced their economy. Many of these agreements have caused many controversial topics that arose globally. What are the factors that the U.S. and economist everywhere see in free trade to say that the positives of free trade outweigh the negatives?
Free trade is based …show more content…
Having free trade between countries is very beneficial because then there would be a lowered opportunity cost for both countries. One major benefit of free trade is that even if a country can be fully self-sufficient, with free trade that country can focus on their specialties and become a lot more efficient lowering their opportunity cost (“Free Trade”). “Free-trade theory says that nations benefit from producing those goods for which they have the lowest opportunity costs” (“Free Trade”). Having free trade can also help with the growth of local economies, which can help create new job opportunities. Having free trade agreements, governments do not need to pay subsidies, so they can save more money. With savings, countries can invest into various things, one being a foreign investment that can add more capital into that country. Since in free trade there is no “protection” countries are now able to become a global competition in the market (Amadeo). Free trade does not require countries to have already been trading partners in order for it to work, which opens up even more possibilities to create a vast amount of new trading partners (“Free …show more content…
With free trade, countries can set their own standards but that can make it difficult to see how much something is worth. There is not a fixed standard of price measurement so, one country might set wheat at a higher standard than apples, but another country might think the opposite (“Free Trade”). There are several arguments on how free trade is not completely fair. One way that it may be not fair is that since countries do not always have protection, many ideas can be stolen by other countries that can develop it for cheaper. This is highly unfair because now the country with the original idea has to compete with countries that have created copycats and knockoffs of the same idea (Amadeo). There are many arguments surrounding free trade because of the various types and amount of advantages and disadvantages to having free trade. A few countries believe that it is best to have regulated trade, but for the United States, this is not the case but rather embrace free trade (“Free Trade”). Free trade has boosted the United States economy dramatically, and has allowed them to be one of the biggest contenders in the market. The United States has played a major role in some very impactful trade agreements (Wells, Robin