U.S. Manufacturing Sector Needs No Protection from Congress

Protectionist measures currently being considered on Capitol Hill would damage America’s manufacturing base and fail to take into account that the nation’s manufacturing sector is in fact booming. In “Thriving in a Global Economy: The Truth about U.S. Manufacturing and Trade,” Cato scholar Daniel J. Ikenson argues, “Justification for [protectionist] bills is predicated on the belief that manufacturing is in decline and that the failure of U.S. trade policy to address unfair competition is to blame. But those premises are wrong. The totality of evidence points to a robust manufacturing sector that has thrived on account of greater international trade.”