Indeed, automatically labeling opposition to the NAFTA-model corporate wealth agreements as "protectionism" would seem to be a symptom of a chronic form of the Anglo-disease when it spreads among intellectuals. Utsukushikereba sore de ii
The EU will not like tariffs.
On the other hand, I like the potential an Edwards presidency offers to rearrange the institutions and terms of international trade. But we'd have to form a common understanding to do that, and it's crucial do so very early in his eventual presidency.
It was a short trade war which I remember mostly by the tariff on swedish gingerbread cookies.
For example, a fight to reform WTO environmental exception treatment to allow a simple ban on tuna fished with the worst dolphin killing nets would attract so much support from various members of the anti-globalist coalition, and take the wind from the sails of a crude protectionist drive. And there is always the recourse to a "hard" negotiation with China to raise their exchange rate against the dollar ... where if it were not to the extent that it involves an increase of the value of the Renminbi against the Euro or the Yen, could well be gained as a victory trophy. Utsukushikereba sore de ii
