[bobthechef]

Friedrich List[0] made exactly this point. The United States, for example, is often portrayed as the paradigmatic example of the unregulated free market, but it is actually quite protectionist (some of the measures lead to perverse economic incentives like those surrounding the corn industry) and its economic power rose precisely because it exercised protectionist measures against the emerging industrial powers of Europe like Britain and France who would have been able to crush nascent American competition. List believed that free markets make sense within a domestic economy, but that import tariffs may be legitimately imposed when it results in domestic benefits.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_List