July 10, 2018

Trump’s Zero-Tariff Solution

President Donald Trump’s aluminum and steel tariff policies have now triggered retaliatory tariffs from other nations, including Canada, the EU and China.

President Donald Trump’s aluminum and steel tariff policies have now triggered retaliatory tariffs from other nations, including Canada, the EU and China.

Last week President Trump imposed new tariffs on more than $30 billion of Chinese electronic equipment and other consumer goods. Our trading partners are now threatening to hit our domestic industries, including wheat, soybeans, pork, bourbon, blue jeans — and even Maine lobsters. The financial markets are jittery, to say the least.

Even worse, China’s tit-for-tat tariffs are now intentionally designed to antagonize Trump voters in Midwestern and Southern states. They are using tariffs as a political weapon. It’s funny that the Left doesn’t seem to protest this blatant and dangerous foreign meddling in U.S. elections. They even seem to applaud this election interference by a hostile foreign power because Trump is the target.

In any case, the goal of these foreign-imposed tariffs aimed at the U.S. is to inflict maximum economic pain on American producers in order to force Trump to retreat.

Retreating isn’t an option for Trump — never has been and never will be. So this is a game Beijing can’t win. For Trump to score a decisive victory, he will need to reclaim the moral high ground in this fight.

Our trading partners are claiming indignation that Trump has instigated all these trade disputes. Last week the Chinese accused America of “firing the first shot.”

That’s a laughable claim coming from Beijing. China’s tariffs, according to a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, are on average about 10%, while our tariffs are closer to 3.5%. This doesn’t include nontariff trade hurdles that make it extremely difficult for American companies to sell things in China.

We buy three times as much from China as it buys from us. Many U.S. companies complain, with justification, that to do business in China, they have to disclose trade secrets and patents, and in some cases surrender ownership rights of the firm. How is any of this “free trade”?

But even our European allies have created anything but a level playing field. Their tariffs are about 30% higher than ours, according to the White House Council of Economic Advisers. This does not include the 10% to 20% value-added tax that is slapped on American products when they hit the shores of Europe. Trump has told our allies that he is not against free trade, but it must be reciprocal, and right now it isn’t.

This is where Trump can and should change the terms of this debate. He should go back to an offer he put on the table at the recent G7 meetings in Quebec with the Europeans, Japan and Canada: zero tariffs. Trump challenged the other leaders by proposing: “We should at least consider no tariffs, no barriers — scrapping all of it.” It speaks volumes about the trade debate that none of the foreign leaders, except perhaps Germany’s Angela Merkel, had any interest. If the offer were made to China, the mercantilist leaders would be thrown off their high horse never to recover. These nations are more interested in bashing Trump as a trade warrior while retaining their own indefensible protectionist trade barriers.

All the more reason for Trump to seize the high ground in the trade debate by offering it up again and again as America’s desired endgame. This is an idea that comes from Trump’s National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow, and the good news is that my sources tell me the all-in strategy is being revisited at the White House now.

Zero tariffs would be the ultimate victory for totally free and fair trade. It would advantage the United States most because we already impose the lowest trade barriers. It would also expose many of Trump’s severest critics as free-trade frauds. President Trump: You should do this, because the worst that could happen is our allies take you up on the offer.

COPYRIGHT 2018 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.