The U.S. government has created a trade lynch law that can convict foreign companies almost regardless of how they operate. Two thousand foreign companies have been penalized since 1980 for selling their products to Americans at prices lower than those approved by the U.S. government. When modern politicians speak of unfair trade, they do not mean that buyers and sell- ers did not voluntarily agree but that federal officials disapprove of the bargains American citizens chose to make. Fair trade, as the term is now used, usually means government intervention to direct, control, or restrict trade. Fair trade means government officials decide what Americans should be allowed to buy and what prices they should be forced to pay.
Fair trade is paternalism in international commerce.
Fair trade means permitting each American citizen to consume the equivalent of only one teaspoon of foreign ice cream, two foreign peanuts, and one pound of imported cheese per year. Fair trade means the U.S. government imposes import quotas on tampons, typing ribbons, tents, twine, table lin- en, tapestries, and ties. In practice, fair trade means protectionism. Yet every trade barrier undermines the productivity of capital and labor throughout the economy. To view this entire document please click here .