Our founding fathers would never have signed trade agreements which saw 40% tariffs placed on our exports, but zero tariffs placed on items we purchase from other nations.
Under this logic, the founders of America could be viewed as isolationists, as well as most U.S. presidents prior to World War I.
"Free Trade" is not free. It is death to America, and to its sovereignty. Trade areas, such as the EU, and a proposed Americas Union, are nothing but death to individual nations. However, so many Conservatives claim that "free trade" is a Conservative issue, because they don't want the government telling them what to do with their money. Hey, the government is telling you how to spend your money anyway with these "free trade" scenerios, of which third world countries are given the benefit over the AMerican worker.
Protectionist trade policies need to be in place for America. This is what we used to uphold to. That is, before all this "free trade" jargon started to float around. In the meantime, our industries have packed their bags and shipped their manufacturing centers overseas, or they have moved across the border. Now, we have slaves in China making our garments, products, etc., while our American industrialized sector has shriveled up. Yeah, that's true Conservatism, one in which America's industrial sector is not Conserved, and one in which we allow ourselves to be succombed to higher taxation as a result of paying for the massive debts due to the trade imbalance.
I'm all for across the board tarrifs. If other countries don't like it, oh well. The U.S. needs to be more self sufficient, and if we aren't self sufficient, does America really have any sovereignty?
Furthermore, I don't believe the gloom and doom scenerio that the free-traders claim. That is, that everyone would stop exporting to us, etc. America is so powerful, that we'll still have plenty of willing countries to export to. In the meantime, it will give U.S. companies what they need to stay here in the United States. Furthermore, it will allow for more job creation, more U.S. startup companies, as well as many corporations bringing the jobs home. Will it be smooth? Of course not. However, it is what is needed for us to survive. All this interventionist garbage is nothing but a slow death to America. George Washington warned us about entangling with foreign alliances.
Call me an Isolationist, a Nationalist if you will. But I'm proud to be an American, and a Constitutionalist at that.