That free trade is mutually beneficial can be seen in President Reagan's recent decision not to impose controls on footwear imports. His reasoning was that high tariffs would result in higher consumer prices. Estimates put the added costs for footwear at US $ 2.3 billion, with the consequent preservation of only 33,000 jobs, or $ 68,000 per employee, hardly a wise tradeoff.
這也是最近美國總統雷根拒絕對進口鞋類設限的原因：進口鞋類若採取配額限制或提高關稅，費用勢必轉嫁到產品售價，預計每年將增加消費者廿三億美元的負擔；而此昂貴代價只能提供三萬三千個製鞋的工作機會，等於保住每個工作機會要花六萬八千美元，十分不經濟。