A Trade President?: George W. Bush has stumbled early; but he has time to recover.

President Bush has gotten a lot of grief for imposing taxes on imported steel and for committing other sins against free trade. Conservatives and liberal editorial writers have found a rare accord in trashing Bush for putting politics over principle. Bush deserves much of the criticism. But the critics have not acknowledged the political realities the president must deal with. Bush made his protectionist moves in part, odd as it sounds, to promote free trade in adverse circumstances. If his strategy is flawed, free traders had better come up with a viable alternative.

The administration has not helped itself by resting the case for its policies on assertions that ...