Trade is the act or process of buying, selling or exchanging goods and services within or between countries. For many years trade has been a controversial topic. Many economists such as Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes would agree that trade allows people to be better off while others like Donald Trump believe trade brings forth harmful effects. The benefits of having trade include enabling lower prices for consumers, increased exports and imports as well as allowing countries to use their scarce resources. Donald Trump argues the favour in restricting trade because he believes foreign powers are cheating America by stealing their money and jobs. One of the positives that come with having trade is that it enables countries to specialize in goods where they have a comparative advantage. A comparative advantage exists when it can produce goods at a lower opportunity cost than another country. Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes believed in the concept of trade and countries specializing in their areas of expertise. Allowing countries to specialize in goods where they have a lower opportunity cost results in an increase in economic welfare for all countries and ultimately leading to lower prices for consumers. …show more content…
To many this is seen as a positive effect trade has on the economy while others such as Donald Trump are against this. Trump wants Americans to produce more goods and services themselves rather than having things brought in. This would be disastrous to Americans as trade is critical to their prosperity and they are one of the largest importer and exporter of goods and services. Donald Trump wants to withdraw from the North America Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership which calls for lower taxes between member countries because he believes trade is causing money to be taken out of Americas pocket, massive job lost to Germany and China and wants to impose tariffs as high as 45% on imported