Two and a Half Cheers for Trump’s New Trade Approach

President Donald Trump ’s trade plan improves American competitiveness, but leaves some options on the table, says Julian Zelizer .

Zelizer: Few if any duties will go into effect before April ; few doubts that major trade restrictions will result sooner rather than later.

He says U.S. leaders have relied on a system of national trade laws to deal with non-tariff trade barriers.

The goal was to prevent what was seen as a disastrous pre-war period of trade-bloc building that was part and parcel of the rising protectionism that deepened and prolonged the Great Depression and helped lead to that global conflagration.

The reciprocity emphasis also seems to jeopardize any hopes for creating the kind of genuine hemispheric trade bloc that could damp down immigration flows from Mexico and Central America by encouraging economic development.