[CPLX]

> If tariffs work at all (which is doubtful)

Of course they work. China has used them to go from people living in huts to the high tech manufacturing center of the world.

[hamilyon2]

Protectionism only works in combination with other measures. If you indiscriminately shield domestic enterprise from competition, you just get less competition and nothing else. Which is usually not enough.

[CPLX]

Arguable. But yes of course the best lesson to learn is that tariffs are one of the fundamentals tools of an effective industrial policy.