My Position on Free Trade
Paul M Jefferson
South University Online

With the current economic situation in the U.S. the debate on free trade has found its way back into the conversation. This is not a new discussion it has been debated since 1848. I am one of the many that is against free trade because of the damage I believe it would cause to the global economy. The overall potential damage that completely free trade would do far outweighs the good that would come from it. I took my position after carefully considering arguments from both sides. The most commonly used argument for free trade is that it allows for the most efficient pricing of goods and services on the largest scale. Proponents of free trade argue that when governments remove barriers such as taxes, tariffs, and regulations the cost of production will fall resulting in overall lower cost that will be passed on to the consumer. This argument however makes the assumption that companies will not just pocket the extra profits to pad the bottom line. Political scientists have argued that free trade would improve national security by linking nations economically and making them codependent on one another. On the other side of this debate are the hidden costs of free trade. Free trade I believe will encourage the formation of large multinational corporations who will amass huge profits at the expense of local small businesses. This will in turn bring in foreign capital that cuts off undeveloped industries before they can blossom in the still developing economy of small nations. The still developing economy of a small nation would then become dependent on foreign business and loose the competitiveness that was there in the beginning. When