Generation after generation has experienced episodes in which the technologically obsolescent endeavored to undermine progress, often appealing to the very real short-term costs of adjusting to a changing economic environment. From the Luddites to the Smoots and the Hawleys, competitive forces were under attack. In the end they did not prevail and longterm advances in standards of living resumed.
Nonetheless, the campaign to expand free trade is never won. Legislation to further lower trade barriers, for example, is becoming increasingly more difficult to pass in our Congress. It is a continuing battle. Further, while tariffs in industrial countries have come down sharply over the past half century, other barriers have become more prevalent.