The art of the tariff deal another way Trump can boost our economy

Economic gains should come through merit, not be conferred by government favoritism.  Yet the governments of many of our trade partners are beholden to special interests and power brokers that raid the public treasury to their own benefit at the expense of everyone else.  China routinely violates American patents and other intellectual property, for example.Foreign countries often restrict US companies’ access to foreign markets entirely, or use tariffs and subsidies to funnel investments and jobs out of the United States. That’s why former President Donald Trump and others have called for US tariffs as a possible remedy. But tariffs can be wielded both destructively and constructively, and using them is a fine art. When recklessly and arbitrarily applied, tariffs can harm American families by imposing higher costs for household goods without creating jobs.On the other hand, strategic tariffs can instead help break up foreign cabals and create a level global economic playing field, creating good jobs here at home.When used properly, the threat of a new tariff from a US president is a direct attack on foreign special interests — a way to break their illegitimate hold over their governments. The Trump administration successfully used the threat of tariffs to suppress European efforts to push carbon and digital-services taxes aimed at US industries.His administration used similar threats to open markets in Asia to US exports.

During the Trump administration’s first three years, before the COVID pandemic, US goods exports to Japan and South Korea increased by roughly 14% and 27% respectively. But while the Trump administration aggressively used tariffs to gain negotiating leverage for better access to markets and other diplomatic and security ends, the Biden administration has abandoned half of the equation.Instead, it has let all these impediments to trade remain, without pursuing any of the larger objectives that Trump was trying to achieve by iss...