Standard trade models do not care what items are placed on the axes. The models show that restrictions on car imports raise prices and lead to economic distortions. They also show that restrictions on imports of clothes and shoes raise prices and lead to economic distortions. In addition, the models show that restrictions on importing physicians' services or lawyers' services (or journalists' services) also raise prices and lead to economic distortions.
The WSJ is once again using its news section to try to alarm readers about restrictions on trade in manufactured goods, even though it has almost never discusses the costs and distortions associated with restrictions on trade in professional services. It also never discusses the cost associated with patent and copyright protection, which have been increased as part of recent "free trade" agreements.
There are much greater economic costs associated with the forms of protectionism that the WSJ ignores than the ones that it wants its readers to be alarmed over.
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