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Richard Epstein considers how the U.S. should deal with China in light of the country’s internal human rights abuses and its increasingly aggressive assertions in Hong Kong.
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Would libertarians be in favor of free trade with the antebellum South? With Nazi Germany? With the Soviet Union?
I think they would be, and that’s a problem.
We exported wheat to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
It depends who you ask since libertarians are a diverse group.
I’m a libertarian hawk. National security is probably the most important function of government.
During times of war, we cut off trade with our enemies.
That’s why tariffs during peace time make little sense.
The antebellum South was pro free trade, while the North was pro tariff before the civil war.
By 1931, all of Europe had abandoned free trade including Great Britain.
why would it be a problem?
It puts libertarians in the position of receiving stolen goods — rewarding slave owners for their slaves’ labor.