WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden’s announcement last week of increased tariffs on Chinese imports signals a shift toward bipartisan support for protectionist trade policy, a complete reversal on trade policy since just a decade ago, when most lawmakers on both sides of the aisle backed more free trade.

For nearly 30 years, free trade expanded as presidents signed trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) was created in 1994.

Prices went down for nearly all consumer goods in that time—but at a cost. The U.S. lost more than 5 million manufacturing jobs from 1998 until 2021, many to workers overseas.

“American presidents of both parties sold out American workers,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a longtime critic of free trade.

Brown said that free agreements had hollowed out communities in Ohio and lowered the wages of remaining workers. Since being elected to Congress, he has urged Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama to enact more protectionist measures.

In the last 10 years the political consensus has shifted toward protectionism, in part due to grievances of the workers affected by trade agreements. Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden have both pushed for more tariffs.

Trade experts, however, said domestic politics were not the only factor that contributed to the pendulum swinging back.

“We're really talking about one particular country that we're dealing with, which is which is China,” said John Tai, professorial lecturer at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and senior advisor at Pamir Consulting.

Officials have said China’s government systemically skirts international trade law by subsidizing key industries, then flooding the global market with relatively inexpensive products that put American companies out of business.

Brown said Biden’s 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles didn’t go far enough to prevent such trade behavior and called instead for a total ban.

Making Chinese EVs more expensive in America could protect automaker jobs, Tai said, but likely not in the short term, since no Chinese EVs are currently sold in the U.S.

It could also drive up costs, since tariffs hinder competition from foreign companies.

Still, some trade experts said tariffs were the better of two bad options, given China’s approach to global trade.

“In many ways the whole situation is not optimal,” Tai said. “It does reduce competition, but the Chinese are also engaging in a way that reduces competition. Either way, the consumers are going to get hurt.”

Former President Donald Trump is calling for even more dramatic levies on imports. He said he would ramp up tariffs to 10% on all imports and 60% on all Chinese imports.

It’s unclear if American consumers have the appetite for the price increases that would come with such tariffs. The average family would pay $1,700 more each year in taxes under Trump’s proposed tariffs, according to nonpartisan think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics.