(Why) Trumponomics is Going to be Disastrous for Americans

Why Trade Wars and Tariffs are an Authoritarian’s Best Friends

America’s rogue President’s latest bad idea: to start trade war after trade war. Not just with anyone. Oh no. With America’s most important trade partners. Hence, an escalating round of tariffs on China — to reach 25% in just a few months. Then there’s Mexico. And Europe. Next up, India.

It’s often said that the President doesn’t understand very much. And one of the things he doesn’t understand is how tariffs work. Tariffs don’t mean that a foreign country pays another more. It just means that people inside a country pay more for the very same goods. Tariffs aren’t a magical way to get “a better deal” from trading partners. They’re just a way to tax people implicitly, nonconsensually, regressively, and destructively, too.

Hence, needless to say, these trade wars are going to Americans poorer. How much poorer? A lot poorer is the simple answer. Do you know who America’s biggest partners in trade are? China, Europe, and Mexico. Then India.

Think of your local Walmart. Or Target. Or shopping mall. Or avenue of high end luxury boutique. The Walmart’s stocked with maybe 90% goods made in China — it’s effectively a Chinese trading outpost. So is your local Target. Your local shopping mall, maybe 60–70% Chinese and Asian, the rest a mix of Mexican and European. That luxury boutique? Made in Europe (or maybe China, too — have you ever checked?) In other words, Trumponomics is like a heat-seeking missile…aimed squarely at the average American.

Think for a moment of how much stuff is made in these countries, that Americans take for granted. iPhones. TVs, computers. Clothes, shoes, underwear. Fine wine and cheese and handbags. The average American spends most of his or money on things that are made elsewhere — even if they’re sold by American corporations, who book the profits.

So Americans are going to pay more for…the very same things. The very same iPhones, handbags, computers, and so forth. How much more? Well, however much the tariff is. The corporations selling all this stuff are hardly like to take the hit — when have they ever accepted smaller profits?