The resulting 10 percent drop in the stock market over two days last week, to early 2023 levels, has prompted hysteria of the sort not seen since 2008. The more the American Left—not long ago, passionate advocates of Trump-style trade fairness—seeks political advantage through roars of outrage, the more recalcitrant Europe and Asia delude themselves into thinking the blinkered American people surely must prefer the good old days of insidious trade deficits to the current chaos.
So, what is the logic behind the Trump tariffs? Why are they incurring such invective? And why is he willing to take such political risks in a fashion that no prior Republican administration had dared?
Let me explain.