Leo Gerard, president of United Steelworkers, is quoted as follows in this article from today’s New York Times:
This isn’t protectionism; we’re enforcing the law,” Mr. Gerard said. “We’re trying to defend our members’ job security. In order to do that in this kind of a global economy, we need to police imports and trade law.”
Not being glib, but perhaps someone ought to get Mr. Gerard a dictionary. A quick glance at the Wikipedia entry on protectionism offers this:
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states, through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other restrictive government regulations designed to discourage imports, and prevent foreign take-over of local markets and companies. This policy is closely aligned with anti-globalization, and contrasts with free trade, where government barriers to trade are kept to a minimum. The term is mostly used in the context of economics, where protectionism refers to policies or doctrines which “protect” businesses and workers within a country by restricting or regulating trade with foreign nations.
I’m just sayin’ …
