Arguments For Trade Protection

Protection of Infant Industries: New industries in a country that have the potential to get a comparative advantage in the future, may need protection now in order to survive.

National Security: Instead of completely specializing, some countries still have some degree of self-sufficiency, in case wars or other conflicts. 

• • This is what many European countries kind of forgot when they became dependent on Russian gas prior to the invasion of Ukraine, and many experienced energy crises because of a lack of self-sufficiency in energy.

Health and Safety: Some countries have stricter health and safety controls to protect its people, such as limits on pollution from cars or nicotine content in vapes. Because of this, the government may disincentivize or ban "dirtier" or more dangerous products from abroad.

Environmental Standards: Some countries want to protect their environment more than others, and therefore try to limit the imports of environmentally harmful goods and services.

Anti-Dumping: Dumping in this context is the sale of goods and services by foreign firms at a lower price than the cost of production. This short-run loss may be done to drive out local competition. Governments don't usually want that, and hence enforce protection against foreign firms.

Unfair Competition: Some countries simply have an advantage over others, and governments may want to protect domestic firms.

Balance of Payments Correction: If a country spends more on imports than it earns from exports, this can be corrected by reducing imports.

Government Revenue: Tariffs result in government earning more tax revenue, which can maybe be used on fiscal policy.

Protection of Jobs: When imports occur, domestic firms lose revenue, resulting in a loss of demand for jobs. Protection can prevent this job loss.

• • However, this argument is quite controversial because although many policymakers use this as a reason, there is little actual proven positive effect. See "Arguments Against Trade Protection".

Diversification for Least Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs): LEDCs are poor countries that are usually very specialized in just a few fragile industries, and depend on imports for everything else. If they disincentivize imports and focus on diversifying their own industries.