1. No it didn't. It was trade based on preference and power. 2. The irony of making this argument at a time when we are inexplicably erecting new barriers to trade with our largest and nearest neighbours.
When it is possible to wander so far from rational, evidential discourse without penalty, there has to be diminished hope for any policy agenda, about trade or otherwise.
The idea of competitive politics is that self-interested leaders will be encouraged to choose good things over bad by the process of observing, diagnosing and electorally responding to policies that are implemented.
Anyone who says 'we first got rich through free trade and that's how we are going to do it again' in the current juncture, has no fear of being found out.
