Here's how protectionism hurts. Last month I wanted to buy protein powder. It cost about $80/tub, as compared to $35 in the US. In the US I drink 3 scoops/day

Here's how protectionism hurts. Last month I wanted to buy protein powder. It cost about $80/tub, as compared to $35 in the US. In the US I drink 3 scoops/day - my (much poorer) Indian workout partner is losing gains because that's too expensive. I would also enjoy drinking a can of Guinness at my local pub. Unfortunately Guinness is insanely expensive and mostly unavailable. In India I just drink swill - domestically produced Fosters and Kingfisher. Thanks to protectionism, the only good drink available in India is Old Monk, and even that is threatened [1]. (The situation is improving a bit - Birra is new and pretty ok and local breweries are sprouting up for rich people.) I'm regularly asked to bring various products into the country - a new phone, a laptop, etc, because they are too expensive or just unavailable locally. I wanted to cook some non-Indian foods for one of my friends. But many of the things I wanted to cook for her were impossible due to lack of ingredients - the import duties make them too expensive, and no local market exists. Another friend of mine is begging for me to bring her a bagel and a bunch of philadelphia cheese next time I come. Protectionism hurts because we are all consumers. [1] Something bad happened and now Old Monk tastes bad. It's truly sad - Old Monk used to be a world class liquor.