There aren't any countries which haven't done it in one way or another - from Singapore and Hong Kong loading up on US treasuries, to Japan's eye wateringly hig

There aren't any countries which haven't done it in one way or another - from Singapore and Hong Kong loading up on US treasuries, to Japan's eye wateringly high car subsidies in the 50s to America (from 1800s-1945). "Free trade" is simply the philosophy of pulling up the development ladder after your country has already ascended and "the theory of comparative advantage" is the dogma that presumes that comparative advantage is both immutable and static.