President Trump has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from, among other places, placid, tranquil Canada, a military ally, because, he says, they threaten “national security.” This is absurd, and he might soon pioneer a new dimension of preposterousness by saying automobile imports do, too. Perhaps some contemporary Longfellow will celebrate the president as a Paul Revere, spreading the alarm to every village and farm: “The Audis are coming! The Audis are coming!”
[The Mercatus Center’s Dan] Griswold also has data to illustrate the scale of the tax increase that American consumers will shoulder if this reciprocity principle is really implemented to mirror every higher tariff imposed by our trading partners. Leaving aside countries with which the U.S. has a free-trade agreement (meaning that duties are likely close to zero), Griswold looks at our ten largest trading partners. He finds that under the administration’s reciprocity plan “the United States would need to implement more than 25,800 upward duty adjustments.” 25,800! He finds “The higher duties would apply to $583 billion in imports to the United States, raising the duties on 45 percent of imports from the affected trading partners.”
Vincent Geloso reveals some interesting history about lighthouses.
Sean Malone busts some myths about minimum wages.
My GMU Econ colleague Bryan Caplan explains a difference between immigration and trade.
