One of the strongest arguments for free trade is that it promotes peace between participating countries.
There is an undeniable correlation between the two, even if it is not always clear whether peace is a precondition for the free movement of goods and services, or whether commerce creates the economic incentives for all participants to maintain peace.
Back in 2016, as anti-China rhetoric in the United States grew increasingly shrill, one could not help but feel that we were on the verge of a new cold war. During Donald Trump’s presidency, the tensions boiled over into something unprecedented in recent history: the weaponization of trade during peacetime.