ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with four issues: first, the nature of the attack upon free trade; second, the perceptions of the US public with respect to import competition; third, the causes of the growth of protectionism; and fourth, recommendations for relief from this pressure. The growth of protectionist sentiment in the United States is closely associated with the policies and practices of major US trading partners that have had, of late, an unacceptably disruptive impact on the US economy. This impact is felt intuitively by the US public, and it is objectively demonstrable as well. The remedy for the very troublesome problem of protectionism in the United States seems as predictable as the underlying causes of its resurgence. The relief, assistance, and negotiation provisions of the Trade Act of 1974 have been successful in venting and diffusing what could otherwise have been very destructive protectionist pressures.
