Capturing export value

摘要

Never mind the months-long saber-rattling among the U.S., its NAFTA partners and others around the world. The cyclical phenomenon of protectionism has been building globally for at least a decade.Protectionism — taxing imports in order to protect domestic production — is a long-standing pillar of U.S. economic policy. Protectionist policies were a key cause of the U.S. Civil War and a contributing factor to the Union's victory. Arguably, it wasn't until World War II — the nation's lend-lease program during the war and the Marshall Plan after — that the U.S. truly embraced free trade.