We may need a new definition of “protectionism”. Dictionaries say the word refers strictly to a policy of deterring imports with high tariffs.

But there are other ways to discourage imports: wildcat strikes in the UK aimed at keeping British jobs for the British; governments’ attempts to deter companies that have received public capital from investing outside their home country; exchange rate moves that revive talk of manipulation; and complaints that the scale of borrowing by the US will crowd out efforts by other governments to do so.