Even with tariffs the steel industry in losing jobs. Nothing can save steel. It simply does not operate as effectively as other global steel industries. Further, protectionism helps a small group of workers, the rest of American industry that is dependent on steel for their operation is hurt by high prices and inefficient production1. Protectionism puts the good of the few above the rest. Additionally, the WTO was created to ensure that dumping does not happen. The problem with infant industry is it's hard to determine when to start the transition away from protectionism, and often it never develops fully. For example, Brazil protected its computer industry and it never was able to compete even past the infant industry stage2.  1 Lindsey, Brink and Griswold, Daniel T. (1999), "Steel Quotas Will Harm US", CATO Institute,  2 Luzio, Eduardo and Greenstein, Shane (1995), "Measuring the Performance of a Protected Infant Industry: The Case of Brazilian Microcomputers", Review of Economics and Statistics,