Protectionism Quotes

America must be kept American

Will the shutting out of foreign goods increase the total amount of wealth in this country? Can foreign nations grow rich at our expense by selling us goods under cost price? Can a people tax themselves into prosperity? Can a man stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle?

What is the appeal of Trump, really? It's nostalgic: "Make America great again." Like European nationalists, he has a vision of a "real" America, one which predates globalization, immigration, feminism, the civil rights movement and technological change, an imaginary 1950s to which we can now return. That is actually not very different from the kind of language that Marine Le Pen uses, or parts of the Brexit movement.

Americanism not globalism will be our credo as long as we are led by politicians who will not put America first, then we can be assured that other nations will not treat America with respect, the respect that we deserve.

[We must] teach the advocates for an open trade the folly as well as degradation of their policy.

We will seek to eliminate scandalous agricultural subsidies which developed nations have that harms our own agriculture.

With some notable exceptions, businessmen favor free enterprise in general but are opposed to it when it comes to themselves.

Food is a weapon. Food is a ... tool in the kit of American diplomacy.

Before Trump, trade policy ceded our manufacturing strength to foreign nations.

The philosophy of protectionism is a philosophy of war. The wars of our age are not at variance with popular economic doctrines; they are, on the contrary, the inescapable result of a consistent application of these doctrines.

The overwhelming number of Democrats... think our trade policy has gone in the wrong direction. They think that our trade policy encourages companies to leave the country. They think our trade policy has caused more and more businesses to outsource.

We must creep before we can walk. Protect the manufacturers for the present, and in a little time, they will protect themselves and us. They have the potential of releasing us from our dependence on foreigners and quieting their intrigues.

U.S. trade policy has been a disaster for American workers.

Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation much follow him; and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations may by outraged in the process.

Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.

Like all Canadians, I was deeply frustrated by the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Conservatives are the party of free trade, and numerous Conservative MPs, including our leader Andrew Scheer, have travelled to the United States to help make the case for Canada.

People who think of a nationalist party sometimes think 'inward-looking and parochial.' The kind of nationalism I represent is the opposite of that.

We had much freer trade in the 19th century. We have much less globalization now than we did then.

There was a time when the United States government earned the trust of its people. There was a time when most people believed that the United States government was protecting them.

There are in fact many ways to combat the Trump project of creating a tiny America, isolated from the world, cowering in fear behind walls while pursuing the Paul Ryan-style domestic policies that represent the most savage wing of the Republican establishment.

In 200 years when the United States will get all that it can from protectionism, it too will adopt free trade.

When someone says, `Let's impose tariffs on foreign imports,' it looks like they're doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works - but only for a short time....over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.

Tariffs, quotas and other import restrictions protect the business of the rich at the expense of high cost of living for the poor. Their intent is to deprive you of the right to choose, and to force you to buy the high-priced inferior products of politically favored companies.

When a nation devalues its currency, it, in effect, increases its tariffs.

It must always be America first—America First!