Bush put a tariff on steel, because he needed votes in Pittsburg. Because of the GATT, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, we were taken to an international court. We lost, as I think we always do. The GATT gives our trading partners the right to retaliate. They retaliated with brilliance and vengeance. They targeted industries in other areas Bush needed to win. The pain was so great that Bush rescinded the tariff. It was an embarrassing thing for this country and it shows the loss of sovereignty and the danger of international treaties. The writers of those treaties know just what they’re doing and my impression is we either have lousy negotiators or statists working for the US in those negotiations. (This is why I opposed giving Obama the trade authority he was seeking. I trust him much less than any other president, including Jimmy I-have-sinned-in-my-heart Carter.)
Ronald Reagan: Protectionist
https://mises.org/library/ronald-reagan-protectionist
Reagan knew Free Markets were the ideal, but understood that there were limits in the real world.
If it were not for GATT things would have gone better.
the danger of international treaties.
Foreign entanglements.