As you might recall from history, oligarchies and mercantilism are not at all incompatible - in fact, they often go hand in hand, with the oligarches using mercantilism to make themselves richer. The article discusses a government trade official’s comments, a position whose very existence is dedicated to opposing free trade - if we had free trade, we wouldn’t need a trade representative! How can one blame “free trade” for what a government is doing in opposition to free trade? There’s no logic to that.
