President Trump signed an official memorandum on Thursday calling for “fair and reciprocal” trade tariffs on all major U.S. trading partners (you can read the presidential memo for yourself here), but as per my previous post, does Trump’s executive action fall into any of Adam Smith’s exceptions to free trade? Before we explore Smith’s exceptions and their scope (i.e. before we consider whether these exceptions swallow up the general rule in favor of free trade), allow me to post a compilation of my previous posts explaining step-by-step Smith’s critique of trade barriers:

1. The immortal Adam Smith
2. Adam Smith’s First Law
3. Adam Smith’s Second Law
4. The logic of the invisible hand
5. Adam Smith’s dire warning
6. Smith’s First Law Redux
7. Adam Smith and the conspiracy of the merchants