China Trade Policy's Ripple Effect: Limit on Soybean Imports Is Felt Widely Around the Country By Peter S. Goodman:

Protectionism benefiting one group often harms another by limiting the availability of goods...

--President Bush, are you listening?--

...at a time when China's relentless growth is spawning increased dependence on imports. In this case, higher incomes for 35 million soybean farmers are being paid for via higher food prices for the rest of China's 1.3 billion people.

In the central province of Anhui, one of China's poorest, people are now paying one-fourth more for pork and 10 to 15 percent more for oil than they were three months ago. Farther south, prices have climbed steeper still.

OK, it's China, but the principle behind the steel tariffs is the same.