Protectionism serves almost no purpose whatsoever. The only thing this does is to protect domestic producers that are inefficient. It almost never helps out the economy because the benefits are only felt within the targeted industries that are being protected. Look at Bush's steel tariffs in early 2002. The economy isn't growing as fast as we want it to because manufacturing industries are not doing as well; they have to pay higher prices to produce their products, which means that higher prices are passed on to the consumer and companies cannot afford to hire more workers. Politicians use protectionism to protect select industries, but it really ends hurting them more because it weakens the national economy and it causes higher unemployment to boot. The reality is that protectionism only stifles international trade. One of the big causes of poverty in the third world is protectionism. It really is simpler than it really seems. Countries that have liberalized their trade policies over the past few years have seen a higher standard of living among the working poor and higher life expectancies along with it. When you liberalize trade, you're freeing up capital to be invested into infrastructure. Genuine free trade brings jobs along with better workplace protections and benefits. Protectionists essentially want to keep poor countries in the rut that they are stuck in. Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the poorest areas of the world because most of the countries in that region have protectionist trade policies. Protectionists say that infant industries in poor countries need to be protected. Obviously, in order to get business to expand, you need capital to get it started. Industry will expand if you have a larger pool of capital to access. The political left, which seems to have a monopoly on sympathy, doesn't really listen to the plight of the poor in other countries. Economic growth doesn't increase inequality, it makes the poor richer. There will always be inequality in a society; that is inevitable at any rate. Finally, countries that trade frequently are less likely to go to war with each other. We have enacted a set of tariffs on textiles that really hurts the Pakistani economy. A few years ago, President Bush scrapped a free trade pact with Pakistan that would have pumped money into their economy. If we're going to win the war on terrorism, we have to promote a healthy economy in these countries where the threat is present. A healthier economy in these regions will not give the terrorists reason to attack us. This will not solve the war on terrorism entirely, but it will win us a lot of goodwill within those countries, meaning that groups like Al-Qaeda will have less recruits...just something to think about.