"it increases the inequality putting all the gains in the hands of the employers." That was not noble talk of global inequality, they meant it increases inequa

"it increases the inequality putting all the gains in the hands of the employers." That was not noble talk of global inequality, they meant it increases inequality on the labor market between capital and workers. So it was also a self-interested (and correct) statement. You're confusing protectionism with protecting one's borders. Protecting one's borders and awarding more rights to the country's own population than to the rest of the world is the status quo and the only recipe for success we know.