[papertyger]

What? Trump has advocated for tariffs as a means of keeping manufacturing jobs in the U.S. (see his Ford example, where he threatened to impose a 35% tariff on ant Ford imports if they opened a plant in Mexico).

To keep a domestic producer from jumping ship, but retaining access to our market.

That is the essence of protectionism.

No, the essence of Protectionism is to stifle competition with domestic producers by artificially raising the price of foreign goods.

That is NOT what he's proposing.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

No, the essence of Protectionism is to stifle competition with domestic producers by artificially raising the price of foreign goods.

That is NOT what he's proposing.

That's exactly what he is proposing. Leaving aside the location where a given car company is headquartered (that's pretty much irrelevant, as companies build plants all over the place now--just look at VW), Trump's policies would artificially raise the price of cars produced outside of the U.S., in order to stifle competition with cars produced in the U.S., with the purpose of encouraging companies to open plants in the U.S. instead of overseas. That's protectionism 101.