Molson Hart

I'm increasingly of the belief that free trade policies were popular in the United States because: 1. The expansion of communism was a serious threat 2. It was widely believed that the US was the greatest trading nation in the world. You want free trade if you're the best at it.

Historically they were not popular in the 19th century in northern usa when competing with the British. I think that supports your theory. (Im guessing youre talking about recently)

This nation was built on tariffs, just like every other modern manufacturing nation (japan, germany, south korea, etc.)

btw i went through the list of rich countries with no ports: Switzerland and Austria. so it's doable but rare

Did they get rich when they had ports though? Like Austria was also part of austro Hungarian empire?