The return of free trade?

In the last 150 years the world economy has experienced two periods of free trade (the 1840s to the 1870s, and the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s), followed by two relapses into moderate protectionism (the years 1880-1913 and those following the oil shocks of the 1970s). Yet, despite widespread fears and continued warnings of rising protectionism, recent years have seen a sharp swing back to freer trade. History, which looked like repeating itself, may have taken a different turn. Ideology and the pressures from transnational corporations have played some role in this. More important has been the spread of multilateral cooperation to a large number of areas; this development has anchored free trade in international agreements.(star)