Trump’s troika of anti-trade, Corcoran,

As the Trump administration rips into the Trans-Pacific trade partnership and NAFTA, guess who seems set for a co-starring role in “Make America Great Again”? There he is, with just a cameo so far, walking through incoming U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s written statement to the U.S. Senate Committee reviewing his nomination. “While I have worked with many people across many lands, the thing I’m proudest about in my whole career is working with Leo Gerard, the President of the United Steelworkers of America and other unions in saving the American steel industry.”

That’s some praise for Leo Gerard — the Canadian head of the U.S. steelworkers union, anti-dumping campaigner, steel industry protectionist, the man who led “Buy America” activism to the point where unionized Canadian steelworkers even campaigned against the Harper government’s attempt to stop Buy America policies from hurting Canadian steel firms. The same Leo Gerard who, behind trade barriers, helped plunge the U.S. and Canadian steel industry into assorted crises over almost three decades.

Is this the end of free trade in America? Certainly the words are foreign to Leo Gerard and Wilbur Ross. Ross talked of “our standards of fair trade” and “sensible trade” and “not trade that is detrimental to the American worker.” The corporate turnaround artist who, over the years, has benefitted immensely from assorted U.S protectionist measures, including massive anti-dumping and countervailing duties to protect Leo Gerard’s steel workers, now seems to want to bring the same model to the U.S. economy as a whole.

So does President Trump, whose inaugural promises sounded like a Gerard plea for new government policy. “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families,” said Trump. “We will follow two simple rules: buy American and hire American.”

Such nationalistic America First policies can only have one outcome. Take the U.S. steel industry’s protection rackets