On the heels of the successful passage of President Trump’s tax reform that lowers taxes for tens of millions of America’s working families, the president is making the surprising move of pushing for a tax increase in the form of tariffs.
The president is proposing a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports – which may very well protect the 140,000 or so American jobs in those industries, but will also simultaneously damage up to 5 million American jobs that depend on steel and aluminum imports. Myopic protectionist schemes rarely help the overall workforce, and they almost always create price hikes for U.S. consumers.
Where tariffs are concerned, the economic costs far outweigh any potential benefit.
President Trump’s instinct here to protect American jobs is unassailable. But his proposed method of implementing protectionist tariffs will (if history is any guide here) backfire and lead to economic disruptions in U.S. manufacturing.
However, as long as the president has started the much-needed conversation about trade deals and protecting American workers, how about an agenda item that would enforce trade agreements in the United States’ favor and protect American workers? The Open Skies trade agreements provide exactly that opportunity.
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