Business only exists because it is profitable. When it ceases to be profitable, it ends. Protectionism is an attempt to make an end-run around this rule, and ultimately it fails.
You would have the government pick losers and winners.
What benefits the steel industry comes at the expense of the auto industry, not to mention consumers. What's good for preserving manufacturing that is no longer economically sustainable is bad for farmers, who rely on exports to make a living.
so Toyota and Nissan sells those pickups they make in the US at a loss, is that it?
tell us who benefits from the tech industry moving offshore? those were supposed to be the jobs of the future, when manufacturing left the US. what's going to replace tech and knowledge jobs? more service jobs (low pay), more government jobs, more health care workers, more real estate agents?
I believe you are well meaning but historically ignorant.
Opponents to Free Trade cannot understand that barriers reduce income here and abroad. Or they don't care if their policies hurt us as long as they hurt someone else.
An economic policy of Malice.