Clashing over Commerce Quotes

“Most Americans embraced the view that commerce was naturally beneficial and required no central direction, in part because they did not want to create an overly powerful national government that might play favorites with certain producers.”
― Douglas A. Irwin, Clashing over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy

“These three Rs—revenue, restriction, and reciprocity—have been the main purposes of US trade policy. While all three have been important throughout history, US trade policy can be divided into three eras in which one of them has taken priority. In the first era, from the establishment of the federal government until the Civil War, revenue was the key objective of trade policy. In the second era, from the Civil War until the Great Depression, the restriction of imports to protect domestic producers was the primary goal of trade policy. In the third era, from the Great Depression to the present, reciprocal trade agreements to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade have been the main priority.”
― Douglas A. Irwin, Clashing Over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy