Show: 018 Top Priority Podcast | Free Trade Priority Initiative
Date Recorded: November 26, 2019
Host: Duane Lester, Manager of Issue Education, Grassroots Leadership Academy
Guests: Dan Pearson, Trade Policy Fellow, Americans for Prosperity

Show Notes & Timestamps

• Why is the Stand Together Community involved in the issue of Free Trade? min [4:26] 

Whenever a country restricts its imports, it reduces the freedoms of its own citizens to do business with whomever they want. —Dan Pearson

• Why is Free Trade part of the Stand Together Openness portfolio? min [8:55] • What happens to a society when it is closed off to others? min [11:18]
• What does the Stand Together Community stand for when it comes to Trade? min [13:21]
• Self-sufficiency is the road to poverty and trade is the road to prosperity. —Russ Roberts— min [19:23] 

**Treasure Island: The Power of Trade. Part I. The Seemingly Simple Story of Comparative Advantage
**Treasure Island: The Power of Trade. Part II. How Trade Transforms Our Standard of Living

• If America opens our market to the world—without tariffs, quotas, or barriers—how does that help Americans? min [23:29] 
• What is the China shock? min [35:10]
• What is the reality of Americas exporting power? America is the world’s largest trading company in terms of the value of imports plus exports. min [39:45] 
• What is meant by a trade deficit and is it a meaningful measurement? min [41:05] 
• Individuals and businesses—not bureaucrats and politicians—should guide trade decisions. min [48:12] 

Letting capitalism work has been the route to prosperity for all of mankind. —Dan Pearson— 

• Punitive measures, such as tariffs and quotas, are an unjust government intrusion into the lives of hardworking Americans; they violate the property and associational rights of individuals and should all be eliminated. min [51:15] 
• Subsidies and other forms of government support for powerful and politically connected businesses and individuals do not create value; they punish consumers, burden taxpayers, isolate businesses from market competition and should be eliminated. min [53:20]
• Trade disputes should be solved through existing international trade organizations and agreements. min [58:19]
• How our Community views Free Trade through the lens of the fourth mutually-reinforcing principle—Self-Actualization. min [1:18:09]
• Do the laws of economics work for the entire world or just the United States? min [1:18:37] 

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. —Milton Friedman—

**Additional Resource**

• It’s a Wonderful Loaf | A poetic lesson on the wonders of Free Trade 
• I, Pencil: The Movie 
• $1,500 Sandwich Illustrates How Exchange Raises Living Standards by Chelsea Follett 
• Free Trade Under Fire by Douglas Irwin