In my latest column for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, I attempt to reveal just how bizarro and backwards are trade wars. These wars truly are ones that each citizen should fervently hope his or her government loses. A slice:
Oh, as in real wars, in trade wars each government intentionally inflicts harm on innocent people. But unlike in real wars, each government waging a trade war intentionally inflicts harm on its own citizens — as when the U.S. government punitively taxes American buyers of Chinese-made goods in order to pressure Beijing to stop extracting revenue from its taxpayers to subsidize imports sold to Americans.
Trade wars are truly bizarre. The goal of each government in harming its own citizens with tariffs is to pressure the other government into stop harming its own citizens with tariffs.
