Maybe not a principle, but a precedent.
And the corn laws were generally damaging to the 19th century UK.
It is absurd to talk of "free trade" with foreign nations, some of which utilize near-slave labor, when our own businesses and workers are shackled with such onerous taxes and prohibitions.
At some point, the taxpayers are going to catch on to the fact that they have been betrayed by those they have elected to represent them, and they might get a little more stingy with their tax payments. It is already way past time for Washington to collect its taxes from the Chinese and Indians they truly represent.
Workers and businesses should be paying zero taxes here first, while imports and offshoring are taxed at 125% or so; then, we will see a level playing field. If we did this, India and China would be more likely to develop capitalist economies internally, and might subsequently be more willing to engage in international trade with a better sense of balance.
My purpose for using 125% is that is about the cost of payroll taxes on American workers. Even if the employer pays some of this, it is still included in the cost of hiring an American. It is the government, not the workers, that create these costs.