I gave this speech at the European Parliament Liaison Office in Vienna, at the European Resource Bank meeting of think tanks and academics from Europe and the US.
In this speech, I talk through the history of free trade over thousands of years, from the Phoenicians, to the Golden Age of Athens, the Roman Empire, various Chinese dynasties, then the Dutch, British and Americans. For millennia, free trade has been associated with the flourishing of civilisation – not only the spread of goods and services, but also ideas, culture, the rule of law and liberty.
