wentieth Century in U.S. international trade policy. A conclusion will address current concerns regarding international trade policymakers, from intellectual property rights protection to increasing calls for protectionism as China's economy threatens to tilt the balance of trade and power to the East.
The Colonies & International Trade
International trade and trade policy continue to be as challenging and controversial as ever, though the U.S. has been committed to maintaining open markets for most of the twentieth century. This has not always been the case with U.S. international trade policy. In fact the complete opposite has been true for most of U.S. history. As Irwin (2006) notes, "For most of U.S. history, the United States has imposed fairly substantial barriers to imports in an effort to protect domestic producers from foreign competition" (p. 1). Showing the volatile nature of trade when nations conflict over trade policy, many economic analysts and historians view the Revolutionary War as the culmination of c
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