Free trade isn’t “smaller government,” because in practice this has meant maintaining a worldwide military empire to maintain the USD as the reserve currency.
Regardless, tariffs and protectionism was a founding pillar of the Republican Party. The party existed for 130 years before the libertarian phase of the 1980s.
> Americans wanted to change that
Isn't 'smaller government' a one of the top mantras for republicans in the US? This is all extremely contradictory.