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"The Failures of Free Trade

By ERNEST F. HOLLINGS
Published: April 25, 2002

This failure to protect American workers is of relatively recent vintage. Since American independence, controls on trade gave government a way to shelter industries from foreign competition so they could grow or restructure. Tariffs were also an important source of government revenue. (There was no income tax until 1913.) President Lincoln protected steel, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted protectionism for agriculture and President Eisenhower for oil. The industrial giant of America was built on careful protectionism.

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The world has changed significantly since these Presidents. For instance their are international treaties regulating trade and there are International Courts that mediate disputes.