Daniel Ikenson, author of "No Longer Us versus Them - trade policy for the 21st century" and Alec van Gelder of International Policy Network argue that:

This global factory has changed the old “Us versus Them” characterisation of international trade for good--and for the good. Trade is increasingly the process of importing a good, adding value to it, and then exporting it to another producer further down the production chain. These complicated production and supply chains rely upon the rapid flow of goods and services across borders.

Banning containerised shipping (perhaps the most important technique in 20th century trade) or broadband Internet connections (which have paved the way for millions of call-centre jobs) would clearly be ridiculed.

Yet it is equally ludicrous for governments to promote “temporary” tariffs to shelter “domestic” industries, or subsidies for “local” producers, or “environmental” regulations that hobble foreign competitors.