Free trade?

I favor full free trade between all nations, on a unilateral basis. That was the Hong Kong policy: each country ends all tariffs, quotas, no matter what other countries do. The US should adopt this policy.

This TPP is not free trade. I oppose it. I suspect, but cannot know for sure, since we are not given the specifics, that this deal includes obnoxious environmental and labor stipulations.

Even if all a country did was reduce tariff rates say by 5%, and nothing else, I would favor that. I have no reason to believe that the TPP is limited to this.

The policy that Ron Paul followed when he was in congress was, if there is something, anything, wrong with a bill, even if it also has good parts, oppose it. Favor only unambiguous reductions of government regulations, taxes, etc. This is certainly an excellent libertarian prescription.

The Best of Walter E. Block