Free Trade Trade between various countries of the world has taken place for many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Originally trade enabled people to obtain food and materials that they could not produce for themselves. For example, the UK does not have a climate suitable for growing bananas, and therefore needs to import these from abroad. More recently, it has been recognized that some countries are 'better' at producing certain types of product than others. (…showed first 75 words of 584 total…

…showed last 75 words of 584 total…country who produce those goods, because they do not have to compete against cheaper foreign imports. In practice, trade has never been free, because some countries have taken steps to protect themselves. However trade is freer for some countries than it is for others. For example India applies very high tariff rates for cotton. In such a way, India wants to protect its own industry, when the manufacturing sector is going through a difficult phase.