Freedom to Trade, Free Trade and Laissez-Faire: Latin American Approaches to Economic Liberalism in the Nineteenth Century

There were at least four stages in the nineteenth-century transition from mercantilism to "free trade". The first involved the freedom to trade with any country; the second led to the application of the same tariffs on imports from all countries. The third required the sharp reduction of the tariff rates themselves. The fourth assumed the subordination of the state to the market. This presentation explores how far Latin American countries advanced along this continuum in the nineteenth century.