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Tariffs will spark retaliation, not a manufacturing renaissance
Donald Trump’s pursuit of tariffs will make the world poorer – and America, too.
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Mr Donald Trump’s dalliance with tariffs in his first term already shows that they did nothing to narrow America’s trade deficit.
PHOTO: AFP
The Economist
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More than 90 years ago, Mr Franklin Delano Roosevelt surveyed the wreckage of the Great Depression. He pointed to one of its causes: Sky-high tariffs had put America on the “road to ruin” by inviting retaliation and suffocating investment. It was a painful lesson, and it took decades of sustained global effort, led by America, to bring tariffs down and let commerce flourish. From our vantage in 2025 the perils of protectionism should still be abundantly clear. Tragically, if Mr Donald Trump gets his way, America risks repeating the errors of the past.
There is uncertainty about how far Mr Trump will actually go in his second term. Investors and diplomats alike were relieved that he refrained from slapping universal tariffs on all imports on his first day back in office. But make no mistake: The man who declared tariff to be the most beautiful word in the dictionary is determined to ratchet up protection. He sees tariffs as a simple tool to achieve multiple objectives: shrink America’s trade deficit, rebuild its manufacturing might, and generate a gusher of revenue for the government. On every count, he is wrong.
