Does foreign competition affect American prosperity?
It is important to remember that countries do not compete with each other in the same way that companies in the same industry compete with each other. One company’s gain comes at the expense of another company’s loss. But international trade is not about competition, it is about mutually beneficial exchange. When countries trade with each other, the trade benefits both countries. In fact, it is imports, and not exports, that are the purpose of trade. What we gain from trade is the ability to import what we want. Exports are not an objective in and of themselves. It is the burden we must bear in order to import the goods that we enjoy.
