In 1651, however, while Cromwell was master of England, the first of the famous Navigation Acts was passed. The chief provisions were, that no goods grown or manufactured in Asia, Africa, or America should be transported to England except in English vessels, and that the goods of any European country imported into England must be brought in British vessels, or in vessels of the country producing them. The law was directed against the Dutch maritime trade, which was very great at that time. But it was nowhere strictly enforced, and in New England scarcely at all. [footnote ommitted]In 1660 the second of these memorable acts was passed, largely embodying the first and adding much to it. This act forbade the importing into or the exporting from the British colonies of any goods except in English or colonial ships2 and it forbade certain enumerated articles--tobacco, sugar, cotton, wool, dyeing woods, etc.--to he shipped to any country, except to England or some English plantation. Other goods were added at a later date. Such goods were to pay heavy duties when shipped to England, and in 1672 the same duties were imposed on goods sold from one colony to another. Had these laws been strictly enforced, the effect on the colonies that produced the "enumerated" articles would have been disastrous, for they enjoyed a flourishing trade in these goods with other countries. Other articles, such as grain, salt provisions, and fish, were not put on the list, because these were produced in England, and, had the entire colonial production been sent to that country, the English producer would have been ruined.3 Rice was also allowed to be shipped direct to all ports south of Cape Finisterre. Some things, however, the Parliament did purely to favor the colonies,--it prohibited the raising of tobacco in England and kept Spanish tobacco out by high duties, it kept out Swedish iron by a high tariff, to the advantage of the colonies, and it paid a bounty on various colonial products.
In all of your response even you missed the most salient point. Probably on purpose. With free trade, when you export into a country at lower rates than the country itself produces at, you ruin the people involved in that industry. Thus, placing tariff on those goods is a matter of protecting the livelyhoods of those people. If they don't have jobs and aren't working, it doesn't matter how cheap the goods are you're importing. When my job went, the 2/3 of the income I had to spend no longer exists in this market. And I now can't afford to buy anything. All I can afford is to pay my basic bills and only for so long. Many more americans are in the same position and many more will be. We may recover from it; but, we shouldn't have to if our government is protecting all our interests. As it is, they're only protecting those they choose to. If it's so good an idea, go on the news and give your job to a Mexican national in mexico. Haven't yet done that have you.