With Wednesday’s sweeping announcement of tariffs, Donald Trump has achieved one of his major goals for this term: raising taxes on imports. As he said in the Rose Garden, “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” and he intends to even the odds. This is part of his plan to remake America’s relationship with its government.
So far, the controversy over these tariffs is breaking out along predictable lines. Many critics are attacking his policy by pointing out that tariffs ultimately hurt countries by reducing standards of living more than they help by providing a few jobs. Others are horrified by the slapdash work behind the new tariff rates. Even Michael Pettis, whose book Trade Wars Are Class Wars is a lodestar of the New Right’s economic thinking, said the tariffs “are unlikely to be very helpful.”
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