--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A protective tariff is a typical…" description: "\"A protective tariff is a typical conspiracy in restraint of trade.\" — Thorstein Veblen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/thorstein-veblen-10833_china_a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspir_270330.jpg" --- # A protective tariff is a typical conspiracy in restraint… ![“A protective tariff is a typical conspiracy in restraint of trade.” quote by Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/thorstein-veblen-10833_china_a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspir_270330.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/thorstein-veblen-10833_china_a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspir_270330.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/thorstein-veblen-10833_china_a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspir_270330.jpg) > “A protective tariff is a typical conspiracy in restraint of trade.” [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He labels protective tariffs as conspiratorial restraints on free trade. **In simple terms:** Tariffs act like conspiracies limiting trade. Key Takeaway Question the true motives of trade policies. Themes economics politics trade policy Mood critical analytical Type economic political When to use this quote - government negotiations - business strategy - consumer pricing Key Concepts market freedom government intervention economic power Questions to Reflect On - Do tariffs benefit any groups? - How do they affect consumers? A Different Perspective Tariffs may also protect nascent industries. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [China](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/china/) [Conspiracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conspiracy/) [Libertarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/libertarian/) [Restraint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/restraint/) [Tariff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tariff/) [Tariffs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tariffs/) [Trade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trade/) ## Related quotes > [I am in favor of a national bank...in favor of the internal improvements system and a high protective tariff.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-am-in-favor-of-a-national-bank-in-favor-of-the-internal/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [TARIFF, n. A scale of taxes on imports, designed to protect the domestic producer against the greed of his consumer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/tariff-n-a-scale-of-taxes-on-imports-designed-to-protect-the-domestic/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [It's so hard to get our goods into China. And when we do get in they charge us a huge surtax. They call it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/it-s-so-hard-to-get-our-goods-into-china-and-when-we-do-get-in-they/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [As history has repeatedly proven, one trade tariff begets another, then another - until you've got a full-blown trade war. No one ever wins,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-mckinnon/as-history-has-repeatedly-proven-one-trade-tariff-begets-another-then/) [Mark McKinnon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-mckinnon/) > [We try to prevent the creation of artificial rents. Rather than setting up quotas to stop imports we levy a tariff, that would be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-m-buchanan/we-try-to-prevent-the-creation-of-artificial-rents-rather-than/) [James M. Buchanan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-m-buchanan/) > [What I am anxious to do is to get the best bill possible with the least amount of friction… I wish to avoid \[splitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-howard-taft/what-i-am-anxious-to-do-is-to-get-the-best-bill-possible-with-the/) [William Howard Taft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-howard-taft/) > [There is no tariff so injurious as that with which sectarian bigotry guards its commodities. It dwarfs the soul by shutting out truths from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-hubbel-chapin/there-is-no-tariff-so-injurious-as-that-with-which-sectarian-bigotry/) [Edwin Hubbel Chapin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-hubbel-chapin/) > [Things aren't right. If a burglar breaks into your home and you shoot him, he can sue you. For what, restraint of trade?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/things-aren-t-right-if-a-burglar-breaks-into-your-home-and-you-shoot/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [“The criminals at the North make us sell our wheat and cotton to Europe at cheap prices, but will not permit us to buy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-michener/the-criminals-at-the-north-make-us-sell-our-wheat-and-cotton-to/) [James A. Michener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-michener/) > [I am a tariff man, standing on a tariff platform.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-mckinley/i-am-a-tariff-man-standing-on-a-tariff-platform/) [William McKinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-mckinley/) > [When Donald Trump was first elected, there was a lot of fear of a trade war. They listened to Trump's rhetoric on the campaign.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/when-donald-trump-was-first-elected-there-was-a-lot-of-fear-of-a/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [As it is, the grotesque distortions of the global market mean that for every dollar the West dispatches to Africa in the form of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-dimbleby/as-it-is-the-grotesque-distortions-of-the-global-market-mean-that-for/) [Jonathan Dimbleby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-dimbleby/) > [The electricity tariff in Punjab is highest in north India, and it should be decreased.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/preneet-kaur/the-electricity-tariff-in-punjab-is-highest-in-north-india-and-it/) [Preneet Kaur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/preneet-kaur/) > [If you don't like Chinese economic policy, flooding the market with over production, you could put a sanction on them, or a tariff.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-bessent/if-you-don-t-like-chinese-economic-policy-flooding-the-market-with/) [Scott Bessent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-bessent/) > [John Quincy Adams ranks with Jimmy Carter on the roster of ex-presidential redemption. Instead of completing a biography of his father, he let himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mallon/john-quincy-adams-ranks-with-jimmy-carter-on-the-roster-of-ex/) [Thomas Mallon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mallon/) ## More by Thorstein Veblen > [Born in iniquity and conceived in sin, the spirit of nationalism has never ceased to bend human institutions to the service of dissension and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/born-in-iniquity-and-conceived-in-sin-the-spirit-of-nationalism-has/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [In aesthetic theory it might be extremely difficult, if not quite impracticable, to draw a line between the canon of classicism, or regard for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/in-aesthetic-theory-it-might-be-extremely-difficult-if-not-quite/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The addiction to sports, therefore, in a peculiar degree marks an arrested development in man's moral nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-addiction-to-sports-therefore-in-a-peculiar-degree-marks-an/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [It is much more difficult to recede from a scale of expenditure once adopted than it is to extend the accustomed scale in response…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/it-is-much-more-difficult-to-recede-from-a-scale-of-expenditure-once/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [A standard of living is of the nature of habit. ...it acts almost solely to prevent recession from a scale of conspicuous expenditure that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/a-standard-of-living-is-of-the-nature-of-habit-it-acts-almost-solely/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [With the exception of the instinct of self-preservation, the propensity for emulation is probably the strongest and most alert and persistent of the economic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/with-the-exception-of-the-instinct-of-self-preservation-the/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [It frequently happens that an element of the standard of living which set out with being primarily wasteful, ends with becoming, in the apprehension…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/it-frequently-happens-that-an-element-of-the-standard-of-living-which/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [All business sagacity reduces itself in the last analysis to judicious use of sabotage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/all-business-sagacity-reduces-itself-in-the-last-analysis-to/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [“She lives with man on terms of equality, knows nothing of that relation of status which is the ancient basis of all distinctions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/she-lives-with-man-on-terms-of-equality-knows-nothing-of-that/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The thief or swindler who has gained great wealth by his delinquency has a better chance than the small thief of escaping the rigorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-thief-or-swindler-who-has-gained-great-wealth-by-his-delinquency/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The dog commends himself to our favor by affording play to our propensity for mastery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-dog-commends-himself-to-our-favor-by-affording-play-to-our/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [“The ceremonial differentiation of the dietary is best seen in the use of intoxicating beverages and narcotics. If these articles of consumption are costly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-ceremonial-differentiation-of-the-dietary-is-best-seen-in-the-use/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The machine technology takes no cognizance of conventionally established rules of precedence; it knows neither manners nor breeding and can make no use of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-machine-technology-takes-no-cognizance-of-conventionally/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [Loud dress becomes offensive to people of taste, as evincing an undue desire to reach and impress the untrained sensibilities of the vulgar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/loud-dress-becomes-offensive-to-people-of-taste-as-evincing-an-undue/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [The corset is?a mutilation, undergone for the purpose of lowering the subject's vitalityand rendering her permanentlyand obviously unfit for work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-corset-is-a-mutilation-undergone-for-the-purpose-of-lowering-the/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) [Explore all 63 Thorstein Veblen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) ## More China quotes > [I don't want to go into space because of war. I think we would if it was triggered. If China said they want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/i-don-t-want-to-go-into-space-because-of-war-i-think-we-would-if-it/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [One of the things the United States does well is building coalitions. What the U.S. knows is that if you don't have a coalition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shimon-peres/one-of-the-things-the-united-states-does-well-is-building-coalitions/) [Shimon Peres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shimon-peres/) > [Personally, I prefer contemporary films, but the market calls for more period choices, especially since China opened up a cinema market in Hong Kong.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donnie-yen/personally-i-prefer-contemporary-films-but-the-market-calls-for-more/) [Donnie Yen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donnie-yen/) > [There is no precedent of an advanced economy withdrawing from a trade agreement as deep and as complex as the European Union.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-johnson/there-is-no-precedent-of-an-advanced-economy-withdrawing-from-a-trade/) [Jo Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-johnson/) > [In China, people are moving from bigger cars to small hatches, and interestingly, the Indian market is graduating to bigger cars and sedans. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winfried-vahland/in-china-people-are-moving-from-bigger-cars-to-small-hatches-and/) [Winfried Vahland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winfried-vahland/) > [Broken china lasts longer than unbroken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-renard/broken-china-lasts-longer-than-unbroken/) [Jules Renard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-renard/) > [Language is so specific to art, all the way to the past in China. Previously, people were not allowed to include various regional dialects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jia-zhangke/language-is-so-specific-to-art-all-the-way-to-the-past-in-china/) [Jia Zhangke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jia-zhangke/) > [I don't see why we and the Chinese should have to be enemies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/indira-gandhi/i-don-t-see-why-we-and-the-chinese-should-have-to-be-enemies/) [Indira Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/indira-gandhi/) > [India may be overtaking China as the world's most polluted country. Even now, which country is worse depends on the day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-inskeep/india-may-be-overtaking-china-as-the-world-s-most-polluted-country/) [Steve Inskeep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-inskeep/) > [If China someday gains a more fair, just, and accountable system of government, it will be due to the hard work and efforts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-mackinnon/if-china-someday-gains-a-more-fair-just-and-accountable-system-of/) [Rebecca MacKinnon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-mackinnon/) > [We're always willing to look at ways NAFTA can work better. But it's a fine line between looking at ways to make it work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-harper/we-re-always-willing-to-look-at-ways-nafta-can-work-better-but-it-s-a/) [Stephen Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-harper/) > [The situation with Tibet has to change. China is one of the last huge dictatorships, holding on to these colonies, provinces. That has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-yauch/the-situation-with-tibet-has-to-change-china-is-one-of-the-last-huge/) [Adam Yauch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-yauch/) > [Put plainly, China seems determined to steal its way up the economic ladder, at our expense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-a-wray/put-plainly-china-seems-determined-to-steal-its-way-up-the-economic/) [Christopher A. Wray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-a-wray/) > [The remarkable thing about the Chinese is that they've operated differently than the Russians, the Iranians, and the North Koreans. By and large, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-e-sanger/the-remarkable-thing-about-the-chinese-is-that-they-ve-operated/) [David E. Sanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-e-sanger/) [Browse all 3,827 China quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/china/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A protective tariff is a typical conspiracy in restraint of trade.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thorstein Veblen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspiracy-in-restraint-of-trade/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "China" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspiracy-in-restraint-of-trade/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/thorstein-veblen-10833_china_a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspir_270330.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/thorstein-veblen-10833_china_a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspir_270330.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/thorstein-veblen-10833_china_a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspir_270330.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A protective tariff is a typical conspiracy in restraint of trade.” — Thorstein Veblen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Thorstein Veblen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A protective tariff is a typical...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspiracy-in-restraint-of-trade/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/a-protective-tariff-is-a-typical-conspiracy-in-restraint-of-trade/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```