Here’s a letter to the San Antonio Express-News.
Editor:
About the tariffs that President Trump recently imposed under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, you report that “Trump has said the tariffs are essential to reduce America’s long-standing trade deficits” (“More that 20 states sue over new global tariffs Trump imposed after his stinging Supreme Court loss,” March 5). Trump does indeed make this claim. However, either he clearly doesn’t believe it, or – if he does believe it – it reveals an ignorance of trade so profound that it cannot serve to justify these new tariffs.
Trump often brags that he uses his tariff-making power to prod foreigners to invest more in America. Because any such increased investment increases America’s trade deficits, Trump’s claim that he needs tariff-making power to reduce America’s trade deficits is wholly inconsistent with his frequent boast about needing tariff-making power to increase foreign investment in America.
In short, Mr. Trump’s express desire to have tariff-making power in order to entice more foreign investment to America belies his claim that he needs tariff-making power to reduce America’s trade deficits. If the courts understand, as they should, that to use tariffs to prod foreigners to invest more in America is to use tariffs to increase America’s trade deficits – and if they further presume that Mr. Trump is acting rationally – they must conclude that the administration’s assertion that it needs tariff-making power to decrease America’s trade deficits is a ruse.
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
