Op Ed - Trump Calls Tariffs ‘The Most Beautiful Word in the Dictionary’

Kamdyn McClain, NY - Writer

Far before President Trump announced his global reciprocal tariffs on “Liberation Day,” the credentialed class was sounding the alarm about the potential devastating impacts of higher tariffs. The President’s April 2nd announcement not only seemed to amplify these fears, but it also seemed to confirm them. The scale to which these tariffs were imposed was far bigger than any expert’s predictions, with some countries’ rates hitting as high as 104%. As a result, global equity and bond markets puked. In the days following April 2nd, the stock market lost $6.6 trillion in value, the 10-year Treasury went over 4.5%, and a global recession seemed inevitable. Now, with the President’s trade agenda coming into more stark focus, it is abundantly clear that the tariff program has been a major success. 

Prior presidents have imposed levies on certain industries, usually after unfair trade practices are uncovered by the United States Trade Representative in an investigation. However, President Trump’s decision to impose sweeping tariffs is without modern precedent. The tariffs he imposed on China in his first term, which at the time were among the largest in modern history, are dwarfed in comparison. The dominant narrative likes to paint the President as a madman, with no guiding philosophy other than his mood of the day – this could not be farther from the truth. President Trump understands something that the elites in this country do not – you cannot be a wealthy nation if you do not produce high-value-added manufacturing. GDP and other economic numbers are bunk if we rely on foreign producers for our most critical goods. The President is working night and day to reorder a global trading system that has been skewed against the American worker for decades.

Almost no one doubted the President would impose tariffs upon taking office – he often declared “tariff” the most beautiful word in the English dictionary. The puzzling part for most was the scale. While taking the United States’ average effective tariff rate from 2.3% to 22% is certainly a major shift, it must be contextualized. For the last 4 decades, the United States has been taken advantage of in global trade. Whether it was the “Asian Tigers” of the late 20th century or China after its accession into the World Trade Organization, the United States has played on uneven terms. The tariffs imposed by President Trump address a trade imbalance, not just a tariff imbalance.  While many countries impose higher tariffs than we impose on them, that is only part of a much larger and more perverse problem. The non-tariff trade barriers are the real drivers of imbalance. China, for example, artificially devalues its currency, subsidizes state-owned enterprises, illegally transships goods, and floods our market with fentanyl. Even if both sides unilaterally dropped all tariffs and entered into “free trade,” the United States would still be on the losing end of that arrangement.  

Reshoring American manufacturing and decreasing our dependence on foreign supply chains is among the most important initiatives being undertaken by the Trump Administration. Whether it is general pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, or critical minerals, the Trump tariff regime and other initiatives are helping to secure these supply chains. Furthermore, the reshoring of these industries will bring about a blue-collar boom unseen for generations. The left loves to wax poetic about their deep care for the working-class, yet it is not a government-sponsored program or handout that will tip the balance in favor of the working-class. Rather, it is President Trump’s fundamental reset of the American trade regime that will unleash industry, protect American interests, and benefit the middle class.