International free trade?

Question

If the government of a country supports the economic benefits of international free trade, why would they want to interfere with free trade activities?

Answer 1

They want the benefits of free trade without the costs.

If some other country suddenly develops a comparative advantage in some industry and you allow free trade, the local companies and local workers in that industry are going to get upset with the "unfair" competition. Since they might have a good bit of political clout, politicians (i.e. the government), will listen.

So, though all of the recent Republican administrations have proclaimed their commitment to free trade, none have been willing to let go of the agricultural subsidies that make the big agribusiness firms rich enough to make substantial campaign contributions.

http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archiv...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultura...

Another long-standing dispute is over the imports of Canadian lumber. The U.S. has a free-trade agreement with Canada (NAFTA); it agreements over lumber in particular; it has signed WTO agreements which also cover lumber; yet the U.S. government persists in maintaining tariffs against Canadian lumber, thhough both the WTO and NAFTA review panels have decided in favor of Canada multiple times:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/softwo...

In the end, politics is about perception, so politicians and governments generally care more about perception than reality. Free trade may well improve the lives of everyone, but the improvements may be small and not even noticed. The problems generated by free trade may only affect a small portion of the population, but that portion might be very vocal.

Answer 2

They allow free trade by taking away tarrifs to allow freely imports & exports to benifit consumers & pruducers