When President Donald Trump demanded the “eradication” of the cartels, Americans rallied behind him.
Franklin Roosevelt described cartels more than eighty years ago as “weapons of economic warfare” and defined “cartel practices” as those that “restrict the free flow of goods in foreign commerce.” In parts of Europe, particularly Nazi Germany, a guild, anti-laissez-faire mindset prevailed in coal, petroleum, steel, and other industries. Roosevelt regarded this economic protectionism as engendering hostility between nations. He instructed Secretary of State Cordell Hull to make the elimination of cartels a priority for the postwar world.
