Prior to becoming President, Correa denounced the "sophistry of Free Trade", in an introduction he wrote for a book titled "The Hidden Face of Free Trade Agreements." One of the authors of that book is his ex-Minister and congressman Alberto Acosta. Citing as his source the book, "Kicking Away the Ladder", written by Korean economist based at Cambridge University and Center for Economic and Policy Research analyst Ha-Joon Chang, Correa identified the difference between an "American system" opposed to "a British System" of free trade. The latter, he says, was explicitly viewed by the Americans as "part of the British imperialist system". Correa wrote that Chang showed that it was Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, and not Friedrich List who was the first to present a systematic argument defending industrial protectionism. (Correa includes List's "National System of Political Economy" in his bibliographic references.)