Frederic Bastiat (1801 – 1850) was a French economist who wrote on economics and the law.  He preceded Henry Hazlitt by about a century in pointing out the seen versus unseen consequences of government intervention in the economy.

Among libertarians, Bastiat is perhaps most famous for his little book titled The Law.  It was published in 1850 near the end of his rather short life.

Bastiat mostly praises the United States during that time.  Speaking of the U.S., he wrote:

“There is no country in the world where the law is kept more within its proper domain: the protection of every person’s liberty and property.  As a consequence of this, there appears to be no country in the world where the social order rests on a firmer foundation.  But even in the United States, there are two issues – and only two – that have always endangered public peace.”

So while Bastiat was praiseful of the U.S., he understood that there were problems here as well.  Bastiat continued:

“What are these two issues?  They are slavery and tariffs.  These are the only two issues where, contrary to the general spirit of the republic of the United States, law has assumed the character of a plunderer.  Slavery is a violation, by law, of liberty.  The protective tariff is a violation, by law, of property.”

Bastiat was absolutely correct.  The U.S. of the first half of the 19th century was one of the freest places on earth, not only during that time, but in history.  But these two issues were completely anti-liberty in every sense.  Incidentally, they were also the two main issues that led to the so-called Civil War. (It wasn’t really a civil war because the southern states were just trying to secede, not take over power.  The Revolutionary War was also a war of secession and not really a civil war.)

If only more people back then had listened to Bastiat.  This is a generalization, but the southern states needed to listen to him on the issue of slavery, and the northern states needed to listen to him on the issue of tariffs.

While chattel slavery is no longer with us in the United States, it is still a great stain on the history of this country, and that history still serves as something of a divide.

Meanwhile, on the issue of tariffs, apparently many people still haven’t learned any lessons.

Donald Trump needs to read Bastiat.  Actually, he just needs to read some basic economics.  To impose protective tariffs is damaging on many levels.  While a small minority of people may benefit in the short term in those specific industries, nearly everyone pays a price in the loss of liberty and the reduced living standards.

Most of the 1800s was a prosperous time in the United States.  It’s not that anyone today would switch places with someone back then, but it was a time of significant economic growth and progress.  There was no federal income tax (except briefly tried by Lincoln).  There were no payroll taxes.  There was no Federal Reserve (although there was still some government interference in banking).

Overall, not counting the slaves, people were relatively free.  But unfortunately, they were not free to trade with foreigners without having heavy taxes (tariffs) imposed.  If tariffs had been much lower or non-existent, then economic growth would have been even greater during this time period.

We, as a human race, are able to live relatively comfortable lifestyles because of the division of labor.  If we didn’t have the division of labor, we would all be in extreme poverty, if not dead.  No matter how independent you are, you rely on the division of labor.

If you have an island of 1,000 people that is cut off from the rest of the world, the people there are going to be poor.  They can certainly use the division of labor within their island, but they only have so many hands and brains to be productive and creative.

If you have an island of a million people, assuming they have some respect for property rights, they will be far better off than the island of 1,000 people.

In the U.S., we can still be somewhat prosperous if all economic activity had to stay within our borders.  There are about 325 million people.  Still, we are better off if we can voluntarily trade with the other 7 billion people on the planet.

Just as it wouldn’t make sense for Floridians to cut off trade with the people in Alabama, it doesn’t make sense for Americans to cut off trade with Canadians, Chinese, or anyone else.

Tariffs limit this ability to trade.  It subsidizes specific industries at the expense of all consumers.  Tariffs make us poorer than we otherwise would have been.

And tariffs still don’t make sense even if they are done in retaliation. If the Chinese want to impose tariffs on certain imports, then it is Chinese consumers being hurt.  There is no sense in American consumers also being hurt in the name of fairness.

We are so much better off because of global trade where people are able to specialize in the things in which they excel.  We should seek more trade, as each party in a voluntary trade deem themselves better off when making the trade. Otherwise, they wouldn’t make the trade.

Trump is only going to shoot us in the collective feet by imposing tariffs.  He needs to start thinking.  He needs to read some basic free market economics.