Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal:
Editor:
House members Jake Auchincloss and Stephanie Murphy wisely urge their fellow Democrats, as well as Republicans, to support free trade (“Free Trade Can Fight Inflation,” August 2). Free trade does indeed put downward pressure on prices.
But today’s inflation is fueled, not by high tariffs, but by reckless fiscal and monetary policies. And so any Member of Congress who supports the Biden administration’s and the Fed’s financial incontinence but then recommends that the resulting inflation be reduced with tariff cuts is akin to a fentanyl pusher who encourages his customers to continue to ingest his toxic ware but then recommends that the resulting damage to brain and body be reduced with daily exercise.
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
