President Trump likes tariffs.

President Trump likes tariffs.  I am less enthusiastic than is he, but I see their usefulness as long as they remain a tactic and not a strategy.  China produces a number of goods for much less than it costs to make them in this country.  An argument can be made that placing tariffs on their import hurts the American consumer because it raises the price of the goods that were being imported and are now made locally.  The counter argument is that buying goods from China weakens the American economy and hurts American companies and workers.  This, in turn, spins the domestic economy down, weakening the country further.  Both arguments are valid.  Proponents of tariffs also point out that permitting China to produce things that we need gives them leverage over us should our diplomatic relations sour.  Pharmaceuticals being an excellent case in point.

My own view of the issue goes far beyond the dangers inherent in a trade war.  Fundamental to my world view is the need for all people, everywhere in the world, to have a decent standard of living.  Trade wars are the last thing that we need, if we are to promote a decent standard of living for all people in an effort to avoid conflict.  The theoretical solution touted by economists is for America to innovate and streamline its’ own production so as to compete more effectively.  Maintaining a decent standard of living while competing with an economy that pays its workers far less money is difficult, very difficult, particularly when you also have different environmental standards.  That leads inevitably to consideration of tariffs.  The idea being to raise the price of the imported good sufficiently to permit domestic production to compete.  

Trump, during his first term, did, indeed manage to bring much of our economy back home, in part through the use of tariffs, and he is indicating that he intends to do it again.  While I support this tactic, I fear that it will inevitably morph into a strategy, unless we manage to do the hard work necessary to make our economy more competitive.  Once again, I see the problem not being political as much as it is societal.  I believe that you and I have gotten fat and lazy and used to being the world leader.  We no longer have the drive that made us the country that we once were.  If I am right, and if you and I do not change, I continue to believe that we will eventually end up exchanging nuclear tipped missiles with one or another foreign antagonist.  Where we purchase our aspirin will be far down the list of problems that we have.

In this last election, Trump received a considerable amount of electoral support from labor.  I agree with the political pundits that argue that this indicates that he has the support of working class America.  While that has resulted in a political victory for “conservatives,” the practical definition of “conservative” has changed dramatically.  The modern American conservative favors the protectionism that is the reflection of the economic problem that we face.  Trump understands this fact of life, while Biden/Harris and their liberal colleagues do not.  The domestic political and economic impact is serious enough, but the impact that it will have on our foreign relations is of even greater import, because it inevitably encourages us to continue a foreign policy that does not adequately address the needs of the rest of the world.  I see this as being extremely dangerous, because several of our major foreign antagonists possess nuclear weapons and the delivery mechanisms necessary to not only destroy our infrastructure, but also to poison the land on which we depend for our sustenance.