protectionist

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person who supports tariffs, quotas, or other government barriers to imports in order to protect domestic producers

   The protectionist argued that high tariffs were necessary to preserve manufacturing jobs.

2. 2
   adj

   favoring or implementing government measures that restrict foreign competition in order to protect domestic trade or industry

   The senate rejected the protectionist bill after exporters warned that other countries would retaliate.

Borrowed from French protectionniste and also analyzable as protection plus -ist. The word arose with nineteenth-century debates over whether governments should shield domestic producers from foreign competition.

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