Free trade vs protectionism

Free trade is a policy of imposing no restrictions on the movement of goods and services between countries. It will lead to the most efficient allocation of world resources and higher standards of living for all participating countries. Yet countries in the world see a need for protection. Protectionism is a policy of protecting home industries from foreign competition by the imposition of trade barriers on foreign goods and services. This is because individual governments …

…towards economic bankruptcy. Measures must be taken to correct the deficit and to bring the balance of payment back to equilibrium. One of the methods advocated for correcting an adverse balance of payments is trade protection. The imposition of quotas and protective tariffs, the setting up of exchange control, and the devaluation of the currency are some of the ways of checking imports in order to correct a persistent deficit in the balance of payment.