The Elemental Case for Free Trade

protectionist arguments rest on the premise that your tomato-growing neighbor has some positive claim on your income.  If you are prohibited from buying tomatoes from Mexico, or – more commonly today – penalized with a tariff for doing so, the state is insisting that domestic tomato growers have an ethical claim on part of your income.  If you do not spend your income as the state, or as domestic tomato growers, deem best, you will be penalized.  Tomato-growers’ economic well-being is elevated above yours.  I find this presumption, which undergirds nearly all protectionist policies, to be reprehensible and ethically indefensible.