Do India/China have import restrictions? I recall this was the claim regarding Japanese markets during the auto/steel tariff debates of the 1980s.
OR, to restore the free importation of foreign goods, after it has been for some time interrupted... Were those high duties and prohibitions taken away all at once, cheaper foreign goods of the same kind might be poured so fast into the home market as to deprive all at once many thousands of our people of their ordinary employment
Here, Smith is discussing phasing in the restoration of free trade, not the enactment of tariffs to protect local labor markets in the first place. Does he discuss the use of tariffs for anything other than retaliation or restoration?
That's the crux of the issue: do we as a country impose tariffs just because technology has moved so fast to enable offshoring and the service skills are so transportable?
This would be a first. I think that would be a very big step, which is why neither the Dems or Pubs are even entertaining the issue.
You took his words out of context or did not comprehend his words. He's saying there are times that tariffs are appropriate, one of which is to protect industry from foreign competition.