It's not just American workers. Europe may say it is in favor of free trade. I approve. That is because it has realistically been less free than the U.S. and protected itself more so it is able to take that position. The U.S. trade imbalance and excessive U.S. borrowing is unsustainable. And no other developed nation would have let de-industrialization get to this point as has the U.S. Japan was worried about "hollowing out" in the 90s and did something about it. Time to eliminate the deficits and rebuild America's industrial sector. I suggest we look abroad to the EU and Japan, etc. for best practices.

And the basic premise of the WTO is not operative as long as major trading nations have high barriers, formal or informal. Korea, for instance, makes it very hard for foreign cars to enter its market while selling about 600,000 units per year in the U.S. Let's define "protectionism". It is what Korea is now doing. The U.S. should demand that they open to the same extent as us asap. No quid pro quo for equivalence. If it doesn't happen, we should just go to their level with the choice being theirs. The U.S. has long supported the "free trade" system. It is time others step us and equal the ante. We would not be protectionist be equalizing opportunity.