US protectionism

Why don't more people say this [in French]? Nice quote from Ségolène Royal, socialist presidential candidate for the 2007 elections in France.

Si je suis en responsabilité et puisque nous aurons la présidence de l'Union européenne au 1er janvier 2008, nous mettrons à plat ce qui se passe sur les autres continents, au premier rang desquels les Etats-Unis, qui savent très bien tenir un discours libéral mais organiser des protections sous des prétextes divers et variés.

Translation: If I'm in charge, and as we'll have the presidency of the European Union on January 1, 2008, we'll clarify what's been going on on other continents, first in line being the US, which knows well how to talk like a liberal [free trade, etc.] but organize protection under diverse and various pretexts.

Critiques of the US as ultra-liberal on trade always forget about the maze of protections and regulations designed to benefit domestic producers (as is done in Europe as well). An example would be food quality regulations. Yes, they're good for consumers in the sense that we get to eat less bad food than we might otherwise (bear with me, let's ignore the recent e coli outbreaks and whatnot), but these regulations can be selectively enforced with foreign producers specifically in mind (more vigilant customs agents, with the backing of the agricultural lobby), keeping prices higher than they would be if there were foreign competition.