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Closing the tabs … 

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Trump pushed back against critiques from many economists and others that imposing across-the-board tariffs would balloon the deficit and trigger trade wars.

He defended tariffs as a panacea that would force companies to produce in the US, creating American jobs and economic growth, and could be used to bolster the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The main target would be China, but Trump also included allies like the European Union in his tough trade talk.

“You can do it as a money-making instrument, or you can do it as something to get the companies,” Trump said.

Ed: I am not as enthusiastic about tariffs as Trump is. I’m also not as blind to the fact that Joe Biden has used them as well for his own purposes, and kept Trump’s in place. 

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Ed: In politics, candidates learn to answer the question they wanted to be asked. Reporters learn to restate the original question … when interviewing Republicans. Kamala Harris, not so much, although we’ll see what Bret Baier does tomorrow. 

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“You could be plunging America into the biggest trade war —” Micklethwait said.

“But there are no tariffs,” Trump objected.

“There are tariffs already,” Micklethwait pushed back, not sure what Trump was getting at.

“No, there are no tariffs — all you have to do is build your plant in the United States and you don’t have any tariffs. That’s what I want,” Trump said, and the audience began to clap.

Ed: Micklethwait is pushing back on populism. It won’t work, and it has nothing to do with the esoteric economic argument. This is a cultural argument, and the working class is tired of being sacrificed on the altar of free trade with unscrupulous partners. They want the jobs to come back to America, and that’s what Trump is selling. 

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Ed: The point about domestic steel production and national security is critical — and I wish Trump had stuck to it. Tariffs are a part of that, but so are education to produce a manufacturing-oriented workforce and regulatory policies that prevent mining and manufacturing.  And a lot more. 

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While campaigning for the presidency in 2020, Joe Biden criticized then-President Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on a wide range of goods imported from China. Once getting into the White House, however, Biden has maintained those tariffs—and even added to them.

Asked in 2022 about that apparent contradiction, Biden’s top trade official said the administration was unwilling to draw down Trump’s tariffs because they were crucial “leverage” that could be applied to China.

“The China tariffs are, in my view, a significant piece of leverage—and a trade negotiator never walks away from leverage,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said at that time.

Ed: Eric Boehm goes on to argue that the tariffs haven’t changed China’s behavior. Does that mean tariffs are ineffective? One could argue that, but one could just as easily argue that diplomatic competence and seriousness — or lack thereof — makes the crucial difference. What we do know is that two decades of laissez-faire with China certainly didn’t motivate good behavior either. 

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Ed: Yeah, color me shocked. 

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Micklethwait is a brilliant man: polished, Ampleforth and Oxford, highly successful. His hair is coiffed and his loafers look expensive. For the benefit of the affluent audience, he endeavored to have a serious conversation as to the concerns rich people have about a second Trump term. He asked about tariffs, growth, China, Putin, monopolies, immigration and January 6.

But Trump is a rude seventy-eight-year-old force of nature, an economic populist who says the Wall Street Journal has been “wrong about everything” — and the Wall Street Journal-reading crowd seem to love him for it.

He entered to a standing ovation, abused Micklethwait for asking perfectly reasonable questions, boasted ad nauseam and wandered wildly off-topic whenever challenged. Yet he left the stage to even louder whoops and cheers.

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