U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross likely tired of hearing the U.S. labeled as protectionist and responded to critics via the Wall Street Journal. He charged that those proclaiming themselves free traders while denigrating the U.S. are unsupported by the facts. Defining Free Trade and Protectionism U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross likely tired of hearing the U.S. labeled as protectionist and responded to critics via the Wall Street Journal. He charged that those proclaiming themselves free traders while denigrating the U.S. are unsupported by the facts. The U.S. has lower average applied tariffs, sometimes substantially lower than those of the EU or China in 20 out of 22 categories of goods. While the U.S. places a 2.5 percent tariff...