America Burns Economic Bridges

Trump's Needless Tariff War

Trump’s first major foreign policy action is threatening tariffs and, by extension, trade wars with our closest partners. This tariff war will be a case-study in how quickly the United States can cause irreparable damage to its alliances and squander decades of goodwill. There is no economic benefit to levying these tariffs, nor is there any meaningful political gain to be made. Inflating the cost of virtually all imported goods while simultaneously shrinking the labor force through an aggressive, draconian rollout of immigration reform will drive up the cost of living for the average American. But how high of a cost will the American people pay for Trump’s muscle flexing, populist rhetoric, and public struggles to demonstrate strength? Judging from dire indicators from the market earlier this week, quite high.

Small and medium-sized economies are likely to cooperate with the United States and the president’s demands — or at least present the appearance of cooperation. Canada reaffirme…