America’s great era of free trade began after WW2 with Sec of State Cordell Hull. His post war vision was to prevent another world war by America enforcing a free trade system that would allow all the nations of the world access to the resources their economies needed to sustain growth, industry and prosperity for their citizens. There was a broad realization that America would not be safe or prosperous if the rest of the world was in poverty and misery.

One of the underlying causes of WW2, just over two decades after the horrors of WW1, was the trade wars that began once the United States passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. This caused a chain reaction of trade barriers around the world which, along with causing the Great Depression, encouraged strong nations to take the resources they needed by force. For example, Japan’s invasion of French Indochina in the 1930s was to secure rubber for their industry.

Hull realized that nations with strong economic ties and extensive trade had a huge disincentive to make war with one another. You don’t make war with your customers, so the saying goes. Strong commerical ties literally forced nations to work together. Germany and France fought three wars in 75 years, but a war today between them would literally destroy both of their economies since they are so integrated.

This concept is taught extensively in political science and political economy. Unfortunately we have a president now who not only knows nothing about history and free trade, but also is too stupid and arrogant to learn. A lot of opinion pieces are being written now about the dangerous world Trump is potentially bringing by recreating the mistakes of the pre WW2 era.

Trade wars are not just about higher prices and shrinking economies; they’re about disincentives for world peace and cooperation, especially between major powers.