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Milton Friedman on Trade and tariffs

The political reason is that the interests that press for protection are concentrated. The people who are harmed by protection are spread and diffused. Indeed, the very language shows the political pressure. We call a tariff a protective measure. It does protect. It protects the consumer very well against one thing. It protects the consumer against low prices. And yet we call it protection.

Context. From a lecture asking why protection is so widespread despite the almost uniform condemnation of such measures by economists. This is his political explanation.

Milton Friedman Speaks: Free Trade: Producer vs. Consumer
Lecture, 1978, Lecture 8, at 10:15
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Milton Friedman, “Milton Friedman Speaks: Free Trade: Producer vs. Consumer” (1978), Lecture 8, at 10:15. https://miltonfriedman.org/quotes/tariff-protects-consumer-against-low-prices-1978

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He also said

  1. You cannot explain those activities of government, and there are hundreds more, as reflecting the will of "we the people." They reflect a system in which concentrated vested interests have been able to obtain great power and impose costs on a diffused consumer interest.

    Context. Following examples of import quotas on Japanese cars, sugar prices, and subsidized water for farmers.

    Interview with Milton Friedman
    Interview, 1992, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, The Region, Interview by David Levy, June 1, 1992
    Checked against the sourceRead the transcript
  2. We have heard much these past few years about using the government to protect the consumer. A far more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.
    An Economist's Protest: Columns in Political Economy
    Book, 1970, Collected in An Economist’s Protest: Columns in Political Economy (Thomas Horton and Company, 1972), “Free Trade,” column of August 17, 1970, p. 107
    Checked against the sourceFind the book
  3. I am saying there is no place for government to prohibit consumers from buying products, the effect of which will be to harm themselves.

    Context. In the panel discussion, asked whether he is saying there is no place for government to test consumer product safety at all. He goes on to say there is a place for government to protect third parties.

    Who protects the consumer?
    Television, 1980, PBS, vol. 7, at 36:25
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