Trumps tariffs aim to reset global trade and boost Americas workers

President Trump ushered in a new era of US trade policy Tuesday — a national course correction after decades of unfair trade practices harmed American industries and exposed the wider economy to unsustainable trade deficits.Advocates for the failed “free trade” paradigm will cast short-term price increases, stock market fluctuations and supply chain disruptions as catastrophic, but they ignore the immense costs of their recent strategy.We must make a radical change to salvage America’s wealth, economic security and middle class, preventing a true catastrophe down the road.For the millions of US workers and families who have lost their jobs and communities to globalization, the catastrophe has already happened.Cheap foreign goods do not make up for those losses. Since signing on to NAFTA and the World Trade Organization agreements, the US trade deficit skyrocketed from $28 billion in 1991 to $918 billion in 2024.

This means the United States consumes almost a trillion dollars more per year than it produces.The US didn’t just lose T-shirt and toy manufacturers.Trade in advanced technology manufacturing also flipped from a $38 billion US surplus in 1991 to a $300 billion deficit last year, severely undermining our economic security and allowing China to dominate world production of the core technologies of modern life.Five years after COVID-19, it is long past time for the United States to address its supply chain vulnerabilities.The current trade system advantages countries that suppress wages, creating a worldwide race to the bottom.

This has meant 40 years of stagnant US wages, a shrinking middle class and declining job quality.Now, instead of chasing profits overseas at the expense of American workers, businesses have fresh incentive to build, train and invest here, using American labor and resources.Trump’s new tariffs include a 10% global baseline that will help correct our trade deficit, and higher reciprocal rates to give the US leverage in negot...