People Trade, Not Countries

It might be a convenient expression to say that the U.S. trades with Japan, but is it literally true? Is it the U.S. Congress and President George Bush who trade with the National Diet of Japan, the Japanese legislature and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe? Or, is it U.S. and Japanese private parties, as individuals and corporations, who trade with one another? When I purchased my Lexus, did I deal with the U.S. Congress, the Japanese Diet, George Bush and Shinzo Abe, or did I deal with Toyota and its intermediaries?

From George Mason economist Walter Williams' most recent column.

MP: Walter Williams makes an obvious, but often overlooked point, that individual American consumers and individual U.S. companies buy imported foreign products, and private U.S. firms sell and export products and services to private foreign consumers and private foreign companies. When we hear all of the media hysteria about the "U.S. trade deficit" with the rest of the world, or with individual countries like China or Japan, we lose sight of the fact that it was voluntary, individual decisions on a daily basis in the marketplace by U.S. consumers and firms that led to the trade deficit.

Look at the tags and labels on your clothing, and you'll find that you voluntarily purchased clothing produced by workers and private firms in China, Mexico, India, Brazil or Bangladesh, etc., which contributed to the "trade deficit" with those countries, but obviously made you better off. Or if you took a vacation to Canada, Mexico or Europe, that contributed to the "trade deficit" with those countries, but made you better off.

Bottom Lines: 1) People trade, not countries and 2) Restrictions on trade are restrictions on people.