Another Grand Old Protectionist
Donald Trump is not fit to represent the Republican Party, many conservatives say, pointing to his economic protectionism as a disqualifier for anyone who would claim the conservative mantle.
Trump is in many ways un- Republican and un- conservative — his past support for late- term abortion and continuing support for Planned Parenthood are two other oft- cited reasons. But being a protectionist is neither un- Republican nor unconservative. The Republican Party has traditionally been explicitly protectionist, and proudly so. Trump is in that tradition: unapologetically, proudly and successfully railing against free trade.
The Republican Party rightly calls itself the party of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president and an uncompromising protectionist. The campaign slogans that won for him his party’s nomination and then the presidency touted “Protection for Home Industry.” The North’s demand for protection for its manufacturing industries, in fact, was a major contributor to the U. S. Civil War — the “Tariff of Abominations,” as the high taxation of imports was called in the free- trade oriented South, effectively forced Southerners to buy the North’s manufactures. In his first inaugural address, Lincoln went so far as to threaten to invade the South if it didn’t accept the tripling of tariffs that he espoused. Unsurprisingly, Trump considers Lincoln the greatest of all American presidents.
Lincoln’s Republican successor, Ulysses S. Grant, was also a protectionist, as was “progressive” Republican Teddy Roosevelt at the turn of the century. Under protectionism, the United States of America became the most powerful nation on earth, an endorsement of protectionism’s virtues that would remain common wisdom until Republican president Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot- Hawley Tariff, which launched the trade wars widely credited with causing the Great Depression of the 1930s.
More recent Republicans have also been protectionists. Richard Nixon ran for president on a protectionist platform and, after he was elected, the Nixon Shock — his astonishing decision to tax imports and untie the dollar from gold — upended the post-World War II economic order in order to stem Japanese and European imports.
Even the iconic exception to protectionist Republican presidents, Ronald Reagan — who signed a free trade deal with Canada, lowered global tariffs through multilateral trade negotiations and vetoed protectionist textile quota bills — had a mixed record, most notably in protecting the U. S. auto industry. But his free-market orientation and especially his free- market rhetoric did re- brand Republicans as free traders, a legacy that re- mains today, but tenuously so.
Protectionism, which has historically been the preserve of Republicans, not Democrats, has generally been enthusiastically received by the public, and been more a point of pride to Republicans than a source of shame. After Nixon imposed his import tariff, a Harris poll found that 71 per cent of Americans approved of it, more than five times as many as the 14 per cent who disapproved. Nixon was so elated that he balked at the prospect of removing the tariff, even after its objectives were met. Following Reagan’s success in curbing Japanese auto imports, his treasury secretary, James A. Baker, boasted that the Reagan administration “has granted more import relief to U. S. industry than any of his predecessors in more than half a century.”
In today’s contest for the Republican nomination for the presidency, exit polls put economic issues at the top of the electorate’s concerns, with voters commonly holding the view that trade costs more jobs than it creates. This is one of The Donald’s trump cards — his repeated calls to bring jobs home from China, from Mexico and from other countries “that are eating our lunch” especially resonate with a blue- collar electorate that has seen its wages stagnate as its manufacturing base eroded. Trump wins handily with these voters while he loses to Ted Cruz, his free- trade touting rival, among voters who believe trade creates more jobs than it costs.
Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” brilliantly captures the American voter’s sense that the U.S. has lost prestige abroad and at home. And it brilliantly taps into the enduring support that Americans — and especially Republicans — have generally shown for policies that are economically protectionist.
Trump may not be fit to be the Republican nominee for president of the United States because of his political inexperience, his ignorance of foreign policy or his temperament. But the one disqualifier that doesn’t disqualify him is his protectionism.
UNDER PROTECTIONISM, THE U.S. BECAME THE MOST POWERFUL NATION