The U.S. steel industry brought America to the brink of protectionism with its vigorous campaign for tough new restrictions on steel imports. But the U.S. Senate, showing an unusual combination of economic sense and political courage, refused to jump off the policy cliff.
There are few issues that more unite economists than support for free trade. Purchasing the best goods at the lowest prices, irrespective of where they are produced, is a key ingredient to economic success.
Of course, that doesn't mean no one loses. Participants in declining industries are hurt by all sorts of economic changes. Earlier this century, workers who made buggies lost their jobs to automobiles. Decades later, workers who made automobiles lost their jobs to foreign imports.