Why Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Destroy the Economy

President-Elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico are one of his major policy prescriptions for protecting American jobs and addressing drug trafficking and illegal migration into the US.

His recent call to impose up to 60 percent tariffs on Chinese imports and 25 percent on goods from Mexico and Canada aims to immediately pull back on America’s reliance on foreign manufacturing.

These tariffs would target over $1.5 trillion in trade with Mexico and Canada, including key imports like Mexican farm products and Canadian energy, aiming to pressure both countries to take stronger actions to prevent narcotics like fentanyl from pouring into the United States, as well as to curb the unfettered flow of migrants.

Populist Democrats have, in the recent past, opposed global trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, citing their negative impact on American workers, yet now rush to defend globalist trade policies when Trump challenges them.

Even more telling is the Biden administration’s quiet continuation of many Trump-era tariffs — an implicit admission of their success. While critics portray Trump’s tariffs as reckless, his first term demonstrated their potential to diversify supply chains and create jobs.

During Trump’s first term, he used tariffs to revitalize domestic steel production and boost manufacturing. Even the left-leaning New York Times admitted that his steel tariffs added several thousand jobs to the industry, and his tariffs on washing machines helped create around 1,800 new jobs at Whirlpool, LG, and Samsung factories in the US.

Critics are correct in pointing out that tariffs could raise the prices of goods in the short term. This kind of economic reality may prove difficult to avoid.

However, not only did the inflation rate remain low during his first term, even with his tariff policies, but Trump is eyeing the long-term benefits of tariffs, namely to protect domestic industry from competition — especially when the competition is from America’s number one geopolitical adversary, China.