UN General Assembly
1987

The Dominican Republic is convinced that the basis of a fruitful peace is, among other things, the gradual elimination of the protectionist barriers that prevent the free flow of international trade. Those barriers favour certain monopolistic interests, both political and economic·, they increase unemployment and inflation in the countries that take shelter behind this policy. Protectionism, whether by raising tariff barriers or by imposing quotas, is a two-edged sword that harms producers and consumers equally, to the benefit of a minority. It is extremely difficult, not to say impossible, to quantify the effects of increased protectionism upon our economies. The predictable result, however, is that the path of protectionism leads to the world-wide contraction of international trade.