Another issue is that the VERs effectively amounted to enforcing cartel discipline for the Japanese makers, who could charge much higher prices for the limited quantities. This meant that, "adding insult to injury", much of the excess expenditure on automobiles was shipped to Japan as profit for the Japanese automakers. But the protected Japanese industries have long been protected, and these costs are already weighing on heavily on the Japanese economy.
Maybe it's worth it. But remember, it's not the voters who will pay. It's you, many of whom don't have the right to vote yet, because the those who don't propose a source of funding implicitly plan to borrow money to fund this protection.