Suppose there is a policy debate regarding the United States’ imposing trade restrictions on imported tires.

Read the following scenario and answer the question that follows.

A congresswoman from a state with several tire factories argues that the government should impose a tariff on tires because they are a necessary input into the production of various weapons. Free trade, she contends, would make the United States overly dependent on foreign countries for the supply of tires and thus, in case of war, unable to make enough weapons to defend itself.

Which of the following justifications is the congresswoman using to argue for the trade restriction on tires?
A. National-security argument
B. Unfair-competition argument
C. Infant-industry argument
D. Using-protection-as-a-bargaining-chip argument
E. Jobs argument

The National-security argument is also known as the National-defense argument. The argument proposes the imposition of high tariffs on locally manufactured goods so that the country would not be dependent on other countries for those goods in the event of war. For example, if a country is dependent on other counties for the production of food, then it would be in great danger in the advent of war. Tires that are also used to prepare weapons should be sourced within a country so that in the advent of war, the country would not be dependent on others.

This is the argument employed by the congresswoman who sought the imposition of a tariff on tires so that the United States would not be dependent on other foreign countries during a war.