Throughout the post-war era, their guiding principle has been that the gains from trade outweigh the costs. But some prominent economists are reconsidering this premise in light of problems that arose after developing economies liberalized their trading systems and became integrated into the global economy.

A criticism of those who favor “fair trade” is that free trade advocates are primarily concerned with economic efficiency rather than social justice. Nobel laureate Angus Deaton of Princeton writes in a recent commentary for the International Monetary Fund “When efficiency comes with upward wealth redistribution, [economists’] recommendations frequently become little more than a license for plunder.”

Finally, while some economists are receptive to using tariffs to tackle trade disputes, it is not apparent that increased duties will achieve their objectives. Paul Krugman contends that the dirty little secret is tariffs of 10 percent have relatively little impact on the U.S. economy.

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