Free trade and protectionism

"First of all, there's no real question here. I'll assume that this is simply a discussion of Free Trade and Protectionism. First things first - replace 'Nowadays' with something more formal. This is a professional piece of work, and that word is a little too chummy. Secondly, I don't like the use of bullet points. Although it makes it clear what you're saying, it's not the best thing to put into an essay. Removing them would be an improvement, I feel. Then we get onto your actual economics. In general, it's fine. Standard arguments, nothing special, fine. That said, with your tariff diagram I would like to see you mention that the reason the price of world goods is perfectly elastic is because the country is a very small buyer - i.e, it cannot influence the world price of the good. I would also like you to mention the Deadweight Welfare Loss triangles from the diagram in your arguments against protectionism. Finally, I'm not convinced about your last point for protectionism - that it prevents 'overspecialisation'. The main problem with this, is that it's based on an oversimplified model of international trade. Secondly, it's simply not a convincing argument - the economic consequences of a tariff or a subsidy would probably be greater than any gain made from keeping a relatively inefficient industry in business. I feel you could cut that out and enter more reasons for free trade (which are thin on the ground in this article). TSR User : chidona"