The following is an edited excerpt.
Next month, the US and Europe would like to make some progress in tearing down trade barriers, an archaic notion left over from the Colonial period in history.
Special trade agreements with blocs, like The Hanseatic League of the 12th century, were always common, but restrictions enjoyed a popularity boom after the collapse of the East India Trade Company in 1799 became the poster child for the perils of free trade – 18th century globalization hysteria.
European leaders have asked to reduce trade barriers because they seek a way to speed up economic growth and simply charging more for China while they subsidize local markets is not working. Currently, Europe puts quotas on things like foreign steel to protect their steelmakers. All consumers pay higher costs but in return the industry remains local. On goods like fruit, they put a tariff in order to make non-EU fruit more expensive.
What stands in the way of reduced trade barriers is not only the traditional parochial concerns of Europeans getting more than they give. Now they are using the scientization of politics as a defense also.
Read the original article in its entirety here: European Farmers Ignore Science In Favor Of Superstition – Or So They Want Us To Believe