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Article: Roquefort cheese dispute may be first whiff of a return to financial nationalism
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- February 2, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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As a symbol of the growing protectionist backlash, it's hard to
beat the protests in the UK last Friday. Repeating Gordon Brown's
pledge to create "British jobs for British workers," the protesters
demanded protection against foreign workers in the construction
industry.
Protectionism comes in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the
recent spat between the outgoing US administration and the French
over the 300 per cent duty slapped on Roquefort cheese through to
the sweeping trade barriers of the inter-war period, triggered by
the 1930 US Smoot-Hawley tariff. With the possible exception of the
stink over Roquefort - which was presumably linked to the American
image of the French as ...