# infant industries argument >[!Ref] Lexicon >The argument that the domestic economy needs and can support certain new industries but that they cannot be started without the temporary assistance of a protective tariff until they grow large enough and efficient enough to compete with the already established industries of foreign nations. It is generally implied that the protective tariff will no longer be necessary after the industries have "matured" and that the nation will benefit in the long run from the early establishment of such industries. > [[Human Action - Mises (HA)]] 509-10; also p.247 in [Mises'](https://www.freemarketcenter.com/lexicon/index.html#Ludwig%20von%20Mises) article, "The Disintegration of the International Division of Labour," in The World Crisis, an anthology by the Professors of the Graduate Institute of International Studies at Geneva, Switzerland (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1938). --- ## Note A questionable argument for the imposition of tariffs to protect infant industries. I need to give more thought to the argument, but I don't think there's any justification for tariffs of any sort. Tariffs only punish consumers (contrary to what Donald Trump thinks). ---- --- # References