Will China, the Second Mega-Trader in history after GBR, Favor Free Trade Soon?

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Bob Davis, Will ‘Mega-Trader’ China Turn Into a Free Trader?  China ReaL TIME, MAY 1, 2014,
blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/05/01/will-mega-trader-china-turn-into-a-free-trader/

Quote:

(a) "China has become the world’s first 'true mega-trader' since Britain in the 1800s, the report says, borrowing mega-trader terminology coined in a report last year by two Peterson Institute for International trade researchers.

"As the Peterson Institute researchers describe it, a country qualifies as a mega-trader if it is has a big share of global trade and also if its economy depends greatly on trade. By that definition, the US hasn’t really made the cut even though the US and China both had about 12% of global merchandise exports at their height. That’s because the US economy is far less dependent on exports than China’s is.

"Once a country reaches such an exalted status, Standard Chartered [now] reasons [based on Peterson Institute's observation], it recognizes that its interest lies in opening markets overseas and at home.

(b) Dani Rodrik, a leading trade theorist at the  Institute for Advanced Study, "said the report muddles history. 'A bit of historical perspective would give lie to the notion that being a big trader comes with a preference for free trade. Historically, large trading nations have been mercantilist in outlook' * * * 'This was true of the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and even British empires (save for a relatively short interlude for Britain between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of World War I). The US push for a multilateral trade regime after the Second World War was driven not by a preference for free trade, but largely by the desire to dismantle Britain’s system of imperial trade preferences. Free trade has been the exception rather than the rule,' he wrote [in response to a reporter's question.

Note:
(a) The report mentioned in quotation 1 is
Arvind Subramanian and Martin Kessler, The Hyperglobalization of Trade and Its Future. Global Citizen Foundation, June 2013 (working paper 3)
www.gcf.ch/wp-content/uploads/20 ... aper-3_-6.17.13.pdf
(b) The authors are affiliated with Petersen Institute at Washington DC, whereas the GCF is in Switzerland.