QotD: Mises on trade

"In our age of international division of labour, free trade is the prerequisite for any amicable arrangement between nations."
~ Omnipotent Government, p. 6

 "Imports are in fact paid for by exports and not by money."
~ The Theory of Money and Credit, p. 286

"It is a matter of indifference whether one produces foodstuffs and raw materials at home oneself or, if it seems more economic, obtains them from abroad in exchange for other products that one has produced."~ Nation, State, and Economy, p. 84 

"History is a struggle between two principles, the peaceful principle, which advances the development of trade, and the militarist-imperialist principle, which interprets human society not as a friendly division of labour but as the forcible repression of some of its members by others."
~ Socialism, p. 268

The nationalists stress the point that there is an irreconcilable conflict between the interests of various nations, but that, on the other hand, the rightly understood interests of all the citizens within the nation are harmonious. A nation can prosper only at the expense of other nations; the individual citizen can"fare well only if his nation flourishes. The [classical] liberals have a different opinion. They believe that the interests of various nations harmonise no less than those of the various groups, classes, and strata of individuals within a nation. They believe that peaceful international cooperation is a more appropriate means than conflict for the attainment of the end which they and the nationalists are both aiming at: their own nation’s welfare. They do not, as the nationalists charge, advocate peace and free trade in order to betray their own nation’s interests to those of foreigners. On the contrary, they consider peace and free trade the best means to make their own nation wealthy."
~ Human Action, p. 183

"It is inconsistent to support a policy of low trade barriers. Either trade barriers are useful, then they cannot be high enough; or they are harmful, then they have to disappear completely." ~ Money, Method, and the Market Process, pp. 135–36 

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