Free Trade Has Never Been a Right-Wing Principle

There is nothing intrinsically conservative or essential to capitalism about free trade. In the 19th century, Western countries that were struggling to modernize their economies enacted tariffs to protect their infant industries. The exception to this rule was Great Britain, which was then the economic front-runner. Even Britain embraced tariffs before World War I as it began to fall behind other countries in its industrial might. Of course, even when England was still a free-trade country, its leaders acted not in the name of a purist capitalist principle but in pursuit of the best interest of their people. Those 19th-century...