PROTECTIONISTS are a minority in the Republican Party—but a growing one. There are a number of reasons for this. The postwar bipartisan consensus in favor of free trade rested on beliefs about American leadership of the world which younger Republican congressmen tend not to share. Then again, as a result of the postwar decision to pursue free trade multilaterally rather than unilaterally, free trade has become linked to international entanglements of which conservatives have long and justifiably been suspicious. And that decision has had other consequences. The multilateral approach makes it seem that free trade is a good idea only if it’s a two-way street (whereas the classical case for free trade asserts that trade barriers harm the nation that imposes them regardless of its trading partners’ policies). Protectionist sentiment thus increases when countries are perceived, fairly or not, as closed to American exports. And, finally, there is Pat Buchanan.
Mr. Ponnuru is NR’s national reporter.
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