WASHINGTON ¨C At their post-Civil War apogee, 19th-century Republicans were the party of activist government, using protectionism to pick commercial winners and promising wondrous benefits from government¡¯s deft interventions in economic life. Today, a Republican administration promises that wisely wielded Washington power can rearrange commercial activities in ways superior to those produced by private-sector calculations in free market transactions.

According to the Financial Times, which interviewed him, Peter Navarro, head of the president¡¯s National Trade Council, says an administration priority is ¡°unwinding and repatriating the international supply chains on which many U.S. multinational companies rely.¡± This will make life interesting for, among many others, America¡¯s third and 24th largest corporations, Apple and Boeing.

The tiny print on the back of iPhones accurately says it is ¡°assembled,¡± not manufactured, in China. The American Enterprise Institute¡¯s James Pethokoukis notes that parts come from South Korea, Japan, Italy, Taiwan, Germany and the United States. Components of Boeing airliners¡¯ wings come from Japan, South Korea and Australia; horizontal stabilizers and center fuselages from Italy; cargo access doors from Sweden; passenger entry doors from France; landing gear doors from Canada; engines and landing gear from Britain.