Explain why the government is often more responsive to producer interests than to consumer interests when it comes to the imposition of tariffs and quotas

Government is generally more responsive to producer interests than to consumer interests. This is because the benefits of tariffs and quotas are concentrated on relatively few producers and the costs of trade restrictions are spread over relatively many consumers. Therefore, the producers will lobby the government to obtain these gains from trade restrictions, while consumers will not lobby government to keep from paying the small additional (per person) cost that results from the tariffs and quotas. Hearing little, or no, opposition from the consumers, the politicians are likely to respond to the interests of the producers.