Developed countries have provided different levels of protection to domestic economic sectors facing competition from imports. An analysis of the effective levels of protection in place in 19 developed, democratic countries found that from the 1970s to the beginning of the 21st century, higher levels of protection were present in countries where parties of the left had a greater proportion of the seats in the national legislature. These results indicate that parties of the left were more likely to guard against import competition. After 2004, however, this link disappeared, perhaps reflecting the disruptive effects of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the global recession that began a few years later.