Seriously, Globe and Mail:  "he meant protectionism"?  "Protection" is a noun.  Trump's sentence makes sense grammatically and in meaning as spoken..  Trump used a simple word.  You think he must have meant an "ism", a complex academic concept, assume that, and then write arguments against your straw man rather than Trump's statement.

My point is this.  Trump says things.  You, the Globe and Mail, apply your screen and your world view and decide he must have meant something else, because you think the topic is something else.  Please try to read his words for what he means the to say, not what you think they ought to be, and provide Canadians with useful commentary.  Rather than commentary on straw men.

I agree installing "protection" for American workers will probably harm Canadian workers.  But that is separate from an analysis of whether or not Trump is adopting an academic (economic science) concept called "protectionism".