One sometimes gets the impression that President Bush is running a protectionist administration and turning his back on decades of free-trade policies.

* One sometimes gets the impression that President Bush is running a protectionist administration and turning his back on decades of free-trade policies. That impression is incorrect. Administrations of both parties have for years pursued free trade as a general goal while also appeasing selected industries seeking protectionist favors. Such favors invariably impose a net cost on the economy. But since the costs are diffused while the benefits are concentrated, the beneficiaries have a greater incentive to organize politically to keep the favors coming. The steel tariffs that Bush imposed in 2002 conformed to the rule: Any help they gave to steelmakers was more than offset by the damage they did to companies that use steel. The difference this time is that the victims got organized. Political pressure from them, along with the threat of retaliatory tariffs from Europe, convinced the Bush administration to back off. The tariffs will go. But the administration has handed out a new favor: The textile industry will be protected from the menace of cheap Chinese lingerie. As we said before, this kind of small-scale protectionism is routine. The Clinton administration, often described as ardent for free trade, indulged in it. But the Clinton administration also took political risks to promote its broader free-trade agenda. So far, the Bush administration has sadly failed to take such risks.