When Pat Buchanan launched his third campaign for the presidency of the United States, the protectionist candidate visited the archetypal steel town of Weirton, West Virginia. Buffeted by a surge in imported steel, Weirton offered a natural backdrop for Buchanan's xenophobic fulminations.
But Pitchfork Pat had a predecessor: Six years earlier, then presidential candidate Bill Clinton had also come to town, promising, in the pursuit of fair trade, to uphold the antidumping laws of the U.S.
That both the hapless Buchanan and the ultimately triumphant Clinton felt compelled to invoke the symbolism of a decaying steel town in articulating their respective trade-policy positions speaks volumes about the lack of clarity in the public discussion of trade in the U.S. today.