Adam Smith was an important thinker in the 18th century, and he believed that free trade and free markets were really important for a country’s economy to grow and succeed. He thought that if businesses could trade freely without too many rules and restrictions, it would lead to more goods and services, better prices, and happier consumers.
However, during Smith's time, many countries didn’t operate this way. They had a lot of rules about trade, like tariffs (which are taxes on imported goods) and restrictions on who could trade with who. Countries often tried to protect their own industries by making it harder for foreign companies to sell their products. This meant that the markets were not as open or competitive as Smith thought they should be.
In summary, Adam Smith argued for more freedom in trade and markets to help economies grow, while many countries of his time had strict rules and regulations that limited trade and competition. This difference showed a big gap between his ideas and how things were actually done back then.