It’s the uncontroverted remarks, the ones that barely elicit any comment, that tell you the intellectual fashions of the moment. Twenty years ago, few would have blinked to hear an official say that free trade was ushering in peace and democracy throughout the world.

The lightly examined nostrums of our day are different. Consider Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent, widely (and justly) praised speech in Munich. He claims that “we embraced a dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade” while other countries took advantage of us.

Really? Here’s Scott Lincicome writing in 2016, during the supposed reign of free-trade dogmatism:

© National Review