The renaissance brought the gradual end of mercantilism, pushed further by the free market principles developed by David Ricardo and Adam Smith in the 18th and 19th century. Before then, the Navigation Act forced goods to come ashore from British ships, while records as far back as the 12th century refer to import taxes.
The key moment came with the abolition of the Corn Laws in 1846. Grain shortages caused by Britain’s growing population and blockades during the Napoleonic wars meant prices were steep. Peace in 1815 could have pushed down the price of imports, yet tariffs kept them high.
The push for repeal split the Conservative party between those on the side of landowners – in favour of the taxes – and the new industrialists wanting to lower the price of bread for the burgeoning middle class. Robert Peel, the prime minister, sided with the factory owners and spurred the move to trade liberalisation in Europe.
The Wall Street crash of 1929 led to the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 to protect US domestic industrial production but it triggered tit-for-tat responses which economists think deepened the Great Depression.
Following the second world war, the world’s biggest economies created the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1947 – which would become the forerunner to the World Trade Organisation.