[SeeSharp]

That free trade is advantageous to both sides is the rarest of political propositions – provable, indeed mathematically. David Ricardo did so in 1817.

[Leaning Right]

That free trade is advantageous to both sides is the rarest of political propositions – provable, indeed mathematically. David Ricardo did so in 1817.

I am extremely suspicious of mathematical "proofs" that involve human-related variables. And that's because such proofs always assume that humans will make optimal decisions. But humans are not robots.

As an example, sometimes a leader will choose a less than optimal economic outcome in return for, say, a political advantage. And since the proof did not take politics into account, the proof falls apart.