Lawrence Summers Quotes

We can't give the impression to our allies or friends in Asia that because the president is against TPP... that therefore, economically, we're going to pull away from Asia.

Protectionism has never been an answer, will never be an answer. We need trade. We need trade agreements worldwide.

The fact of the matter is that instead of going around the world and haranguing countries for engaging with China, the West should be encouraging its own businesses to trade and invest in these regions.

I was quite ready to accept certain restrictions on the United States. After all, there was a great dollar shortage. It was quite clear that the more prosperous Europe became, the more business there would be in the United States.

The best way to help countries around the world is to help them with trade.

We have to work towards free trade because otherwise we will miss out on many opportunities for cooperation, and relations amongst countries will become much more difficult.

I want to go get trade agreements because if America walls itself up, if we address sort of an economic fortress America, we will lose.

Trade accords had been a staple of the post-World War II world, providing a mechanism for economic growth, development, and association with friends and allies, and a means of reining in would-be adversaries who otherwise would have little incentive to act with restraint.

How can we have 'freer' free trade? Let's get real, for God's sake.

Capitalism saved the world, and there is even a heretical theory now, moving up from the level of individuals to countries: countries that trade more and have more open economies are less likely to fight wars and less likely to have genocides.

The U.S. must differentiate between controversial assertions of power, like those in the South China Sea, and fair reflections of China's growing contribution to the world, such as the new banks.

If we want more trade in the world, we should establish bilateral trade agreements with other democratic countries. That way we can control the decision-making process. The major economic countries of the world will enter into those agreements.

You can either invade a country or leave them alone and trade with them. When goods cross borders, armies don't.

Clearly, the Chinese need the resources, but I don't think they want to clash with the industrial world which happens to be the market for their goods.

Free trade, far from protectionism, is the path that we should take to make Latin America a thriving actor in the global economy.

China has concluded that trade trumps all.

In this century, the 21st century, the U.S. recognizes our prosperity and our security depends even more on the Asia-Pacific region.

The only way in which a European union, embracing Britain but excluding eastern Europe, could become economically healthy would be develop the closest sort of trading relationships either with this hemisphere or with Africa.

We can’t influence other countries’ decisions if we send them a message that we’re backing away from trade.

The more we can open the border [with the US] the more we can develop.

Free trade is the result of prosperity rather than the cause of prosperity .... Without growth over a long period of time you will not have a political commitment to free trade.

I am in favor of helping the prosperity of all countries because, when we are all prosperous, the trade of each becomes more valuable to the other.

In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting — yet it ends in danger and decline.

[N]o real leader can aspire to champion both the logic and the morality of free trade without confronting the practice that undermines both: currency manipulation.

Economic cooperation makes the American people and others around the world more prosperous and secure.