Top Priority | Ideas for Human Flourishing

Show: 019 Top Priority Podcast | Free Trade and the World Trade Organization
Date Recorded: January 28, 2020
Host: Duane Lester, Manager of Issue Education, Grassroots Leadership Academy 
Guests: Dan Pearson, Trade Policy Fellow, Americans for Prosperity

Show Notes & Timestamps
  • What is the history of the World Trade Organization (WTO)? min [1:00]
  • What was the world like before the WTO? What is mercantilism? min [5:22]
  • Adam Smith pushed back again Mercantilism with his book The Wealth of Nations. min [6:41] 
  • The Wealth of Nations can be summarized into three main themes:
  1. Trade, when voluntarily initiated, benefits both parties, not just the exporter.
  2. Specialization allows for economies of scale and promotes economic growth.
  3. Collusion between government and business is harmful to the general population.

  • Did the American Founders favor protectionist tariffs? min [11:05] 
  • The two functions of the WTO: min [30:05] 
  1. Negotiations
  2. Dispute settlements 

**Additional Resource**

What is Top Priority | Ideas for Human Flourishing?

We have a deep belief in people and promote ideas of human flourishing.

Top Priority is a collection of interactive, learning-oriented conversations on how the Stand Together Community engages with and advocates for solutions through the lens of our Community Vision: We transform society by breaking the internal and external barriers that prevent people from realizing their potential, enabling all people to improve their lives and find fulfillment by helping others do the same.

The Stand Together Community Vision is guided by four, mutually reinforcing principles: Equal Rights | Mutual Benefit | Openness | Self-Actualization

Explore the free and civil society through the lens of each of these four mutually reinforcing principles and stand together to help every person rise.

Top Priority is a production of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation's Grassroots Leadership Academy, where we make Human Flourishing a top priority.