In the lead-up to the “Liberation Day” tariff announcement in April, President Donald Trump often stressed the importance of reciprocity. He claimed that raising tariffs on imports from foreign countries was about fairness—and that America would drop tariffs if other countries agreed to do the same.
After the announcement of a new trade deal with Vietnam, we can safely conclude that Trump was not telling the truth about that.
Under the terms of that deal, announced Wednesday, American exports to Vietnam will face no tariffs while Vietnamese goods imported into the United States will face tariffs of between 20 percent and 40 percent. The higher rate is reserved for goods that are shipped through Vietnam from other origins. (The exact details of the deal are reportedly still being hammered out.)
Vietnam is giving the United States “TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade,” Trump wrote on Truth Social as he announced the deal. “We will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff.”
That’s great, but what happened to reciprocity and fairness?
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has been a fiery proponent of “people will die” opposition to spending cuts. But people will die no less from Ms. Warren’s failure to push through new programs or expand existing benefits to new classes of Americans. People will also die if enticed to rely on programs that politicians know aren’t sustainable and must be changed. Medicare and Medicaid are certain to produce long waiting lists in the future. Social Security benefits are already scheduled to be cut sharply as soon as 2033 under existing law.
“People will die” is a safe bet too if opportunity vanishes from the economy due to heavy tax hikes to sustain these programs.
Chelsea Follett makes clear that “wealth doesn’t have to mean demographic decline.”
Here are John Stossel’s commendable Independence Day thoughts.
Debbie Harry turning 80 years old prompted these wise reflections from Bob Graboyes.
