So here's the problem: doing so can decimate a local industry, which is fine until the subsidies stop or, now having eliminated the competition, the exporters j

So here's the problem: doing so can decimate a local industry, which is fine until the subsidies stop or, now having eliminated the competition, the exporters jack up the price or otherwise hold the importer hostage in some way. Australian dairy exporters have been suffering from this because a traditional export market (SE Asia) has been flooded with cheap (subsidized) dairy products from the EU (particularly Italy IIRC). This typically gets labelled "dumping". Now market forces (and since subsidies are in play it's not really market forces) will otherwise kill the local industry. When those producers are gone and a change of government ends the dumping those producers don't magically reappear. It takes time. This sort of thing is why so often self-sufficiency and key industries are touted as being in the national interest.