[Grit]

How can tariffs be plunder and protect at the same time?

It depends on which side of the equation you are on. One man's protection is another man's plunder.

A tariff on foreign almonds protects the value of the almond growers crop(his property).

...at the expense of the almond purchaser. Now my Almond Joy costs $1.50. That's 50 cents I no longer have to spend on other fine American made products.

[hedgetrimmer]

So the WTO supports free trade. Well here is what one US senator says:

Meanwhile a powerful US lawmaker said he would identify countries to blame for the debacle and try to shut them out of lucrative free-trade pacts with the United States.

Senator Charles Grassley said in a statement, "I will use my position as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over international trade policy in the US Senate, to carefully scrutinize the positions taken by many WTO members during this ministerial.

"I will take note of those nations that played a constructive role in Cancun, and those nations that did not."

How free is that!

[hedgetrimmer]

Well, I am on the American side. Which side are you on?