Protectionism

In this day and age, Free trade seems to be a favored concept by economists in terms of International Trade, whereas Protectionism is favored by Governments. Personally, I am a small advocate of Free trade at this point in time because it seems to have more opportunities to stimulate growth and increase the flow of resources and ideas internationally. Although, it is quite understandable why governments favor Protectionism because of how it aims to preserve jobs domestically and ensure the growth of small businesses in this ever changing and uncertain economy. If the pressure were not as great for governments to use a Protectionist approach in terms of trading with other countries, their respective countries may experience significantly higher growth, resulting in new job opportunities for those who loose their jobs, as well as other areas of enterprise which start-up businesses can pursue. For example, the US is continuously favoring a Free trade concept because of the large amount of outsourced companies located in countries such as India and China. On the other hand, US citizens are outraged at the companies that engage in outsourcing because it endangers their own jobs and firms due to their inability to produce as efficiently and more cost effective than other countries. Therefore, even though the Free Trade concept does not greatly assist domestic firms and individuals, in the long-run, I believe, the economy will flourish as countries begin to trade more vigorously with one another.

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