Weather today in pfony1ville ..... numbers flurry and cloudiness.
Two of the three countries you cite have positive trade balances and the the third is minusculey negative compared to ours.
Nowhere to you give any picture of the level of protectionism in these nations.
Well, I see you didn't "put up".
And I see you changed the topic from "free trade" to "trade deficits". Not that I CARE, mind you. I read this change of topic as a tacit concession by you that the link between "free trade" and "national wealth" is both positive and CAUSATIVE. So that's a debating point won by me.
Still, I would have thought that a HIGH ratio of Imports to GNI would have been sufficient proof of a LOW level of trade "protectionism -- at least, to a logical person.
Anyway, if you are now "sure" that you want to talk about "trade deficits", please let me know.
De-bunking 17th-century "Merchantilism" is EASY....