American tariffs protected against the British use of credit to embrace extend extinguish a lot of industry and hoover up resources. They were a drag on the economy, but one that was historically warranted as we saw repeated attempts to bring America back under London's thumb before they were largely successful in 1913, having made the Union's victory against the British backed Confederates pyrrhic by requiring us to leave the gold standard.
Protectionism in GENERAL isn't a reasonable approach, but, it can have its place when the attack being defended against is more harmful than the impact of less free economic policies. It's like closing the castle drawbridge and gate. You defend against the seige but you're not getting more wheat from the fields outside while the gate is closed.
There's also the other matter of tariffs vs income tax (vs other alternatives). If it were one XOR the other I'd probably take tariffs. Neither, and perhaps some other tax on licensing shared resources (air, bandwidth, waterways, etc) would be preferable, but reality has a way of muddying ideals.
