Let’s see if I’ve got this right. James Hoffa of the Teamsters writes in the Detroit News that "America built the biggest, strongest economy ever behind a wall of protectionism. We nurtured infant industries through tariffs and subsidies. We need to be doing that again."

Let’s look at the largest single employer of Teamsters, UPS. UPS is the nation’s second-largest private employer with more than 400,000 people.  About half of them are Teamsters.

UPS CEO Scott Davis, speaking at the Chamber last February said:

"UPS has an obvious interest in trade. We are the global conveyor belt for commerce. As we speak today, our network of airplanes and trucks is moving about six percent of U.S. GDP and two percent of the world’s GDP. We see what free trade means to our customers…

"Each time we add 40 new international packages in the U.S. — in other words, 40 packages imported or exported by our customers — we create another new U.S. job somewhere in our system. Last year we grew the international portion of our business by more than 10 percent, creating thousands of new job opportunities at UPS for U.S. citizens."

Following Hoffa’s prescription would put thousands of his fellow Teamster’s out of work. A clear example of cutting off your nose to spite your face if ever I’ve heard one.