We asssule that protectionism is bad because the consumer has to pay a higher price when those goods are not optimally produced. The irony is that less local co

We asssule that protectionism is bad because the consumer has to pay a higher price when those goods are not optimally produced. The irony is that less local consumption = less local labor, reducing competition for labor and pushing down pricing power. But the second aspect of this that doesn’t often get talked about is quality. If making a 65” TV in the US is going to cost twice as much as when it’s made in China then I as the consumer will just by a cheaper TV — probably spending the same amount of money I would have. We can often buy cheaper substitutes with the same functional properties.