Trade negotiator: Increasing economic prosperity in a country tends to bring political freedom to its inhabitants. Th...

Skylar on December 20, 2019

@manvir, maybe I can help.

The passage says that increasing economic prosperity tends to increase political freedom in a country. It then claims that it is wrong for a country to adopt trade policies that will likely hinder prosperity growth in another country.

It is important to note that the passage only says it is wrong to hinder another country. It does not make the claim that countries should help other countries develop prosperity or political freedom, just that countries should not hurt other countries' development of such prosperity and freedom. For instance, a country could adopt policies with a neutral effect, and this would not contradict the passage. This distinction is why (A) is incorrect.

(D) is correct because it connects the passage's conclusion (it is wrong for a country to adopt trade policies that will likely hinder prosperity growth in another country) to its earlier premise (increasing economic prosperity tends to increase political freedom). If we adopt the principle that "a country should not do anything that might hinder the growth of political freedom in any other country," the claim that a country shouldn't adopt policies that hinder the prosperity growth of any other country is supported and justified.

Does that make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions.