Short answers, pulled from the story.
Adam Smith wrote about this dynamic in his 1776 work The Wealth of Nations. He described competition as the exercise of allocating productive resources to their most highly valued uses.
The Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 developed new provisions for adjustment assistance to industries damaged by imports and changing market environments. In 1984 manufacturing sectors faced import penetration rates reaching 25% due to high dollar exchange values suppressing foreign prices.
Antoine Augustin Cournot defined competition as a situation where price does not vary with quantity or where the demand curve facing a firm remains horizontal. His system proves that in a perfectly competitive market firms earn zero economic profit in the long run.
Countries such as Saudi Arabia Greece Croatia Bahrain and the Philippines created advisory bodies or special government agencies to tackle competition issues. Dubai and Spain's Basque Country also considered establishing similar institutions to address local challenges.
President Reagan signed the Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act into effect in 1988 renewing focus on American competitiveness globally. Section 301 of this act contained provisions ensuring fair trade by responding to violations of agreements or unreasonable activities hindering commerce.