[jariel]

" You will not find a single example of any country becoming developed following free trade except for island nations like Singapore"

Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in reality, the US as well.

The US has always been pretty open.

But yes, if a nation is in shambles, it may very well make sense to make major strategic investments for the national good, but ultimately, it can't last.

Korea, Japan etc. would be much poorer today if they had continued to manage their economies in a post-war fashion.

[bobthepanda]

The US being open is mostly the postwar period. Tariffs were huge pre-WWII, in fact the Great Depression was probably exacerbated by rounds of tariff retaliation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariff_in_United_States_histor...

[rodgerd]

New Zealand has fallen further and further behind its nearest neighbor over the time it's taken a hard-line free-trade position.

[postingawayonhn]

That's not a very critical look at the situation.

Australia has major advantages when it comes to natural resources and geographic proximity to Asia. There's also major structural issues with the Australian economy with significant agitation at present for major taxation and industrial relations reform.