Soft protectionism

Nick Clegg has called for British consumers to "Buy British" to help boost small businesses and thus the local economy (story here). This strikes me as a sort of soft protectionism.

Protectionism is a subject I need refine my opinion on. Orthodoxy has it that it's a bad thing. It slows growth and leads to trade wars. It was a factor that exacerbated the Depression. Nevertheless, there is a clear need to diversify Western economies that that have previously been overly reliant on credit-fulled consumerism and innovative financial services. It is hard to see how this can be done without initially shielding our somewhat atrophied industrial sectors from the rigours of the global economy.

What I don't like about this pronouncement though, is not that it amounts to protectionism, but that if the Lib Dems think protectionism is a good idea, they should say so, rather than pleading with the British consumer to do their dirty work for them. If nothing else, it is simply ineffectual.

One possibility, that may be politically feasible, is to introduce green tariffs. If importers were taxed on fuel miles this would create an advantage for local businesses, but on diplomatically acceptable terms. Of course, British exporters would then be likely to face similar tariffs in other countries. But, aside from the ecological benefits (which are good case for such a tax policy anyway), it would create an impetus towards diversifying the economy and aligning production more closely with consumption.