How 'America First' can threaten NATO- and America

For decades, Democrats (and trade unions) have been mesmerized by the siren song of protectionism, the trade policy which seeks to give domestic goods artificial advantages over those produced overseas. At first glance, it looks like a good idea, since it seems to mean jobs for Americans and profits for American companies. But historically, such policies are met in kind by other countries, putting our goods under the same disadvantages in their markets we have put theirs under in ours, or even greater ones. In the long run, it dries up foreign markets for American-produced goods, costing Americans their jobs rather than safeguarding them.

Donald Trump made protectionism a key part of his platform, and from all indications, it played a major role in attracting blue-collar support to his campaign. That many economists expect it to plunge us back into recession and end up creating more unemployment rather than less doesn't occur to people who don't know history and don't think about the law of unintended consequences. "Buy American" sounds like a great slogan until the morning you wake up and discover that only Americans are buying!

Here's an informative piece by former Congressman Geoff Davis of Kentucky, a West Point graduate, on another unintended consequence of protectionism: the threat the Trump administration's "Buy American" policy poses to the NATO alliance. Not only does it pose problems for an alliance in which munitions are often standardized and several member nations produce them (although they're predominantly American-made as it is), but it could actually threaten the supply chain itself.

HT: Real Clear Defense