Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce
Potomac Swamp
Mr. Ross:
According to the transcript of a White House meeting yesterday, you described foreign firms that transship goods to America through countries whose exports we don’t tariff as “evildoers.” Pres. Trump then expressed approval of your description. And to prevent the doing of this alleged “evil,” you and the president want to impose quotas that restrict Americans’ access to such goods.
You and the president have a grossly distorted sense of good and evil. The evildoers here are not the foreign producers who work peacefully and creatively to enrich us Americans with larger supplies of low-priced goods. The evildoers are you, the president, and your lieutenants who – like common street thugs – use threats of violence to prevent us from taking advantage of these generous offers.
It’s a topsy-turvy world in which those who peacefully enrich us are considered to be evil, while you and your ilk who coercively prevent us from being enriched consider yourselves – and are considered even by many of your victims – to be heroes.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
