You are an advisor to the government of Argentina

Tariffs force price disparities between two countries. If Argentina places a tariff on cotton, the tariff is reflected in the price passed on to consumers in Argentina. Argentina is a net importer of cotton, and does not have a comparative advantage. If it did, it would not wish to close off trade of cotton. It would be able to produce cotton more cheaply than other countries, and would be a net exporter. Argentina may wish to limit imports in order to protect an infant cotton industry, needs cotton for national defense, or because its cotton importers are being negatively impacted by lower world prices. In general cotton growers would support the tariff, while Argentinian consumers would oppose it. In some cases the workers will also oppose it, depending on the model.The Ricardian framework predicts that countries will fully specialize instead of producing a broad array of goods when free trade is permitted. The tariff would prevent this specialization to the detriment of consumers. Depending on where the tariff is distributed, the government and domestic producers would gain what the consumers had lost. Some welfare is lost due to market inefficiencies as a result of the tariff.The Specific Factors Model:
While labor can move freely between sectors, there are other factors specific to sectors or industries which are immobile. This model explains how price differentials drive trade. To induce the movement of labor, the export firms will raise wages. Since all labor is alike (the model assumes labor is homogeneous) the import-competing sector will have to raise their wages in step so as not to lose all of its workers. The higher wages will induce the expansion of output in the export sector (the sector whose price rises) and a reduction in output in the import-competing sector. The adjustment will continue until the wage rises to a level that equalizes the value of marginal product in both industries.Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson Model: predicts that free trade between would permit countries with abundant unskilled labour to have the advantage in goods which are intensive in unskilled labour while countries whose strengths are in capital and skilled labour would have the advantage in other goods. It is likely that Argentina doesn't have this unskilled labor, and so the tariff should benefit it.Stolper Samuelson Theorem: predicts that a rise in the relative price of a good will lead to a rise in the return to that factor which is used most intensively in the production of the good, and conversely, to a fall in the return to the other factor. An increase in the price of cotton will result in an increase in wages, since cotton is labor-intensive. This benefits low-wage workers. Whether this is beneficial to Argentina depends on its priorities.Standard Trade Model: standard trade theory which says that trade liberalization will benefit a country's relatively abundant factor of production. The price of the good of country initially exports is divided by the price of the good it initially imports. If a country can export at a higher price or import at a lower price, then welfare improves. Tariffs improve welfare as long as they are not too large.Imperfect Competition Model: this model challenges the assumption of diminishing returns to scale and argues that using protectionist measures can allow certain sectors to dominate the world market via a network externality. Thus the tariff on cotton could be useful to Argentina if it wishes to obtain world dominance in this industry.