Use of protective tariffs to shelter domestic production whilst developing that production capacity is in fact A Thing, and is actually a principle component of what is known as the American School of economics, which strongly influenced US economic policy from the 1790s through the 1970s, and had as a chief proponent Friedrich List (1789--1846).

A modern proponent is Ha-Joon Chang, particularly in his books Kicking Away the Ladder and Bad Samaterians.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_School_(economics)>

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-Joon_Chang#Kicking_Away_the...>