This week the US Senate will vote through a Bill banning all federal agencies from buying services in from abroad. "America First" resonates well, "Buy Expensive" lacks charm.
Yet there is a paradox. The more the branches of the vast US government machine fail to buy abroad when it makes sense to do so, the more the dollar will suffer and the more profitable it will be for American companies to migrate offshore.
Once again, I offer you an example of "Blundell’s Law" - that all political actions create the opposite effect.
In the G7 nations, the leading capitalist economies, about half their commerce is in or through the diverse arms of the state. By a point-blank refusal to open these sectors up to international trade, the opportunities of half the economy are neutered or suppressed. The more governments deter international procurement, or "out-sourcing", the more chances for enrichment are lost.
If this has long been true of public bodies it is becoming true of companies too. Large firms have long expected to trade overseas. This is their strength and a major virtue. Now it is being treated as a sub-species of treachery.
If you are the chief executive of a company and your accountants tell you that you would make far more money by relocating to the Bahamas, or Bermuda, or the Isle of Man, should you ignore them?
Your role is to make more money for your shareholders. It is not to be "socially responsible" or to "back the government". You are husbanding the assets of your firm. Your purpose is to pay dividends.
Naturally your PR advisers will alert you that this move overseas will look unpatriotic. The politicians will seek revenge. They’ll argue for higher taxes or an outright ban on your goods and services - just as the US Senate enacts this week. You’ve definitely scotched any hope of that knighthood.
All protectionism is a malignancy. This new form of protectionism has an added pernicious quality. The markets will always seek out lower costs. If the UK government tries to influence company decisions - or punish companies for the decisions they take - the great computer of the exchange rate will grind in the new data and corporate "outsourcing" will become even more profitable.
In Edinburgh, everybody felt a pang of anger and alarm when Scottish & Newcastle announced it was planning to shut down its heartland plant at Fountainbridge in Edinburgh and is looking at