Tariffs risky gambit on geopolitical chessboard

It was a great Masters Tournament. Rory McIlroy capped a career grand slam by finally winning the Masters in a topsy-turvy manner. He went for it on every hole with dramatic double bogeys and aggressive eagle shots. All the ups and downs were just too much for the wealthy fans of golf. The whole idea of watching golf is to get your mind off the stock market and tariffs. 

Investing has been a roller coaster. Stocks historically pay off but it is a wild ride. Don’t date Evel Knievel if you don’t like jumping over the Snake River Canyon.

In Trump’s first term, Democrats agreed that tariffs on China are a good idea. It always concerns me when the political classes in D.C. are in full agreement. The last time that happened, they voted for the Iraq War.

This time Democrats have no ideas, so they oppose Trump on everything. Trump should have said he was against tariffs just to get Democrats to go along with him. 

Trump has long felt China has raped and pillaged us. And he won’t just stand by and watch pillaging. 

When I was attending Georgetown University in a remedial program for Southerners, I worked in President Reagan’s U.S. Trade Representative’s office. I never determined whether Georgetown was educating us Southerners or observing us. Fellow Tennessean Senator Bill Brock (R-TN) was running the USTR show after he lost his seat. It was a sleepy office then. Now it is the tip of the spear. 

We were free traders under Reagan. We knew the world was a safer and more prosperous place when nations traded goods with each other. We said, “When goods cross borders, troops don’t.” Missiles and war rhetoric did not bring down the Berlin Wall eight years later, but rather Russian citizens’ desire for Levi’s jeans, Marlboro cigarettes and Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

But with 30% to 40% tariffs on us and almost none on them, trade with the EU and China has not been free. Free trade is defined as no tariffs, but the closest thing is when tariffs are paid equally by each trading partner. That is what Trump is trying to achieve. We are the biggest consumer in the world, so we have the buying power here. That’s Trump’s bet.

I trust Trump understands tariffs. If not, he will when the Trump trinkets like MAGA hats he sells to his followers cost him $250.

Trump has been playing the tariff Hokey Pokey: in, then out. He recently lifted the tariffs on things Americans can’t live without, like iPhones, laptops and flat screen TVs. iPhones are essential and expensive. At my age, if I fall and hear something crack, I’m hoping it is a bone. 

It is a dangerous game. Trade wars were the cause of the War of 1812. Tariffs and French/British trade impediments sparked that war, in which we got our tail whooped. The British actually attacked Washington D.C. and burned down the White House. It is a forgotten war that we lost so badly we called it a “tie.”

China’s centralized, communist, command-and-control economy is in a quandary. Cut prices and maintain market share to continue to employ their masses who demand jobs, or don’t reduce prices and risk the pitchforks of the proletariat who might start protesting the kleptocracy into which every socialist/communist country devolves.

President Lincoln raised tariffs on cotton and the like, which was one of the factors leading to the Civil War. In fact, Lincoln was very similar to fellow Republican Trump: Both presided over a bitterly divided nation, raised tariffs and actors of the day wanted to kill them.

Capitalism has a remarkable way of getting the best product to market, at the best price, when the government leaves it alone. At this writing, I cannot think of one thing government inserts itself into that is made better. 

Trump pretty much raided Fox News talent for his appointees. I hope they know about economics and tariffs. What I do know is that they are conditioned to take two breaks a day for a word from the good people at Balance of Nature and My Pillow.

Ron Hart is a libertarian op-ed humorist, award-winning author, and a frequent guest on TV. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on X.