This is exactly the playbook my country S. Korea used, enabling the "miracle on the Han". The "free trade" mantra is bullshit, it is literally kicking away the ladder that every developed nation climbed to get to the top.
figuratively
As languages change over time, so has the meaning of "literally" to actually also mean "virtually"[0]
Thanks for the correction, I hate getting into a habit of misusing words!
Or "essentially".
This is what Brazil does and it is definitely not winning.
Exactly.
When arguing something works you can't just ignore how often it doesn't. Development Economics is not so simple.
It was definitely working for a good part of the time. Mismanagement in other areas does not imply the recession was caused by protectionism. Actually, there are several different reasons for the Brazilian recession, yet none of them has anything to do with a "closed" market.
Protective taxes. Domestic growth. Expertise. Drop taxes and start telling everyone else how great free trade is.
It's a pretty winning playbook.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_Thail...