them toward reinvesting in U.S. man- ufacturing. Why? Trump is seeking to achieve
four policy goals by pushing U.S. mul- tinationals to reinvest in the United States — and for foreign companies to build facilities here. The goal is to increase job oppor-
tunities for Americans while also increasing wages as demand for workers increases, and to offset the expected reduction in demand as artificial intelligence (AI) is deployed to supplement human labor. He also wants to make our nation
less vulnerable to supply chains that start in places like China. Trump is off to a strong start
in this regard, as companies have pledged more than a trillion dollars in new investments into the U.S. in just the first few months of his second term in the White House. Second, Trump deploys high tariffs
to drive policy changes in our trading partners that have nothing to do with free trade per se. These changes in behavior range from curbing illegal immigration to putting more resourc- es into interdicting the flow of deadly fentanyl into our country. Third, Trump is deploying recip-
rocal tariffs specifically to incentiv- ize other countries to reduce their tariff and nontariff barriers to U.S. exports. Such policies reflect a shift away
from America’s dominant foreign policy of the last 75 years, which pri- oritized buying friendship through economic aid, as exemplified by the Marshall Plan. For generations, we tolerated unbalanced trade arrangements because being generous with access
COUNTRY China
European Union Vietnam Taiwan Japan India
South Korea Thailand
Switzerland Indonesia Malaysia Cambodia
United Kingdom South Africa Brazil
Bangladesh Singapore Israel
Philippines
Trump’s Tariff
Proposal 34%
20% 46% 32% 24% 26% 25% 36% 31% 32% 24% 49% 10% 30% 10% 37% 10% 17% 17%
to our markets served our foreign policy goals of engendering interna- tional relationships. It came at a huge cost, however,
as populist politicians going back to Ross Perot had warned. Trump is the first president to
seriously heed those warnings — that American workers were being squeezed out of industrial jobs, not just by lower-cost labor in develop- ing nations, but by higher-cost labor in other developed nations whose jobs are protected by their remaining high trade barriers. Trump hopes the reciprocal tar-
iffs that shocked the markets and stunned our trading partners will open the door to more exports, in exchange for which Trump will reduce or drop the reciprocal tariffs he just announced. Fourth, Trump sees the money
“Let’s put God No. 1. Let’s put religion number No. 2. Love, I don’t know, we gotta put that No. 3, I guess, right? And then it’s tariff, because tariffs will make us rich as hell!”
What They Charge Us
67% 39% 90% 64% 46% 52% 50% 72% 61% 64% 47% 97% 10% 60% 10% 74% 10% 33% 34%
raised by tariffs as an impor- tant source of revenue as he battles to attack the huge $2 trillion annual budget deficits left by his predecessor. In 2024, the total value of
U.S. imports was just over $4 trillion. Even if Trump’s tar- iffs cut that figure dramati- cally — if, say, U.S. imports are reduced to $3 trillion — a 3% tariff on the remainder would still raise $90 billion a year, offsetting much of the budget “cost” of extend- ing the 2017 tax cuts. Finally, Trump loves tar-
iffs because Congress has delegated to the president the power to create and set tariffs under statutes such as the National Emergencies
Act and the International Emergen- cy Economic Powers Act. These laws give the chief execu-
tive a big stick in foreign and fiscal policy, which Trump wields ener- getically. He understands our robust domes-
tic economy vests the United States with extraordinary power. Every business of size wants — no, needs — to be in our market. The man in the Oval Office is act-
ing like the landlord of an amazing shopping mall who recognizes that everyone who’s anyone needs to be there, so he’s increasing the rent and setting the terms to maximize the return for the folks who own and work at the mall — the people of the United States. Trump’s tariff policy is pragmat-
— President Donald Trump
ic and populist while theoretically inconsistent. It’s of a piece with his broader attempt to rebalance the terms under which the United States deals with other nations, moving away from the post-war, subsidy- for-friends model toward an every- one-pulls-their-own-weight model — a model in which alliances are premised on shared interests instead of subsidies.
MAY 2025 | NEWSMAX 13
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