Protectionism is what a government does when it tries to help farms and factories inside its own country by making foreign goods harder to sell there. The usual tools are taxes on imports and rules that cap how much can come in. Supporters say this saves local jobs. Critics say shoppers then pay more, and other countries may hit back with their own taxes. It is a politics-and-money word; you meet it in the news when countries fight over trade. Though actually, almost every country uses a little of it, even the ones that praise free trade. The argument is usually about how much, not about a pure yes or no.