Ross: True free trade is a fantasy due to national self-interest
Wilbur Ross · A Conversation with Wall Street Legend & U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross · Joe Lonsdale · Aug 30, 2024 · at 15:15
Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discusses international trade policy and why theoretical free-market economic models fail in practice with Joe Lonsdale.
0:00 / 0:41exact quote · 41.0s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Understanding that there is no such thing as true free trade in the world as we know it. It's a nice theory that every country will just manufacture and even export the things that they're the best at, will import everything else, and life goes on merrily. The problem with that is in between you have human beings, and the human beings Are always trying to advance their own countries. Economic interest. So you get into all sorts of protective mechanisms, and as a result, it's a fantasy to think.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Wilbur Ross
Ross: Los Angeles School Superintendent Abolished High School Math
“Milken Institute sent me an interview they had done with the head of the school system in Los Angeles, and the reason they did an interview with them is he had abolished, prohibited the teaching of mathematics in high school.”
Ross: 2017 Syria strike during Xi visit deterred warfare under Trump
“I think it's a big part of the reason that single event, big part of the reason we didn't have much warfare during Trump's whole administration.”
Ross: Trump Taj Mahal's $800M Mortgage Bond Never Paid a Single Coupon
“Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns underwrote an eight hundred million dollar mortgage bond for a company that was a startup. Trump had a couple million dollars in it, and that was about it. Well, it never paid one coupon. As you know, the coupons were every six m…”
Ross: Commerce Department was first to restrict dual-use exports to Chinese companies
“So we were the first ones to put a lot of controls on the exportation to certain sanctioned Chinese companies of militarily sensitive products. We call them dual-use products, because a lot of them had some commercial use, but also could be military use.”
Ross: CCP party secretaries are the most powerful figures in Chinese companies
“Well, if the state owned enterprises, especially, but even a lot of private ones, The party secretary appointed by the communist party is the most powerful person in the company. So it's, he's not under all the regulatory supervision cause it's just party secr…”
Ross: Trump administration would have achieved more by moving faster initially
“If we had acted a little more rashly, a little faster, not made sure that we truly understood how it worked and just To go a little more adventurous, we would have accomplished a lot more, because that would be another year of reforms, another year of tax roll…”