[rbecker]

> International trade when done with effective reciprocity and managing the trade deficit

This is exactly what protectionism can help achieve. Without it, you get banana republics, wholly owned by foreign multinationals.

It's telling you ignore the parent posts Asian tiger economies as examples of successful protectionism, and instead address the ridiculous strawman of "never engaged in barter-trade or any kind of bilateral exchange either with monetary instrument or goods/services"