W. Edwards Deming Quotes

Now, what produces a want of demand? A refusal to take from other countries the commodities which they produce.

We have to remember we're in a global economy. The purpose of fiscal stimulus is not simply to sustain activity in our national economies, but to help the global economy as well, and that's why it's so critical that measures in those packages avoid anything that smacks of protectionism.

You should not expect to find a big U. S. market for your goods because Japan does not make the things Americans want.

It is difficult to overcome protectionism when times are bad.

Protectionism is something that will hurt everybody, but especially the United States.

People say free trade causes dislocation. In actual fact, it's the lowering of trade barriers that causes the dislocation.

When someone says, `Let's impose tariffs on foreign imports,' it looks like they're doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works - but only for a short time....over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.

The United States can't keep a completely open system if the rest of the world is less open. The United States may have to take a leaf out of the book of Japan, China, and Germany, and have protectionism inside the system.

When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will.

In the broad and sweeping sense which the use of the term generally implies, I am not a free-trader.

Before we move forward with new efforts to lower the barriers to international free trade, we must review the consequences of the policies of the past and address the problems of the present.

Until the Chinese decide to compete fairly it will be up to us to do what we can to further protect our manufacturing base, and ensure we keep the good paying jobs we already have.

Protectionism is a very real danger. It is understandable that in times of a severe downturn protectionist pressures mount but the lessons of history are clear. If we give in to protectionist pressures, we will only send the world into a downward spiral.

Opposing the free flow of goods or people is a bad idea.

We have little of no inflation in manufacturing goods because more and more we buy products from abroad at very cheap prices.

Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down.

Liberalization of trade barriers are essential for long-term global growth.

A global economy is a fact of life .... No politician can promise to protect you from it.

No one wants to return to the old protectionism, but we need to protect our own…. We are committed to the unrestricted defense of national interests.

The arguments for protection are more easily made attractive than those for free trade.

Demanding freedom of access to other markets isn't protectionism, it's free trade.

We need some economists to say that [trade] protectionism is not as dangerous as most economists seem to think it is.

We're the only dinosaurs left who maintain that the myth of "free trade" really exists.

There has always been a temptation, at times of economic difficulty, to turn inward and put up the shutters. That is when we need free trade most.

Tariff policy is no longer a question of raising revenue or protecting domestic manufacturing. It is the executive's instrument of foreign policy.