President Donald Trump insists his tariffs will bring back jobs and promote economic security. But I don’t think most Americans are willing to pay the costs of his agenda.
Trump’s Tariffs could see iPhone prices jump
Due to President Donald Trump’s new import tariffs, the price of the iPhone could rise by up to 43% in the U.S.
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A friend was recently telling me that he likes about 80% of what President Donald Trump has done so far and has promised to do.
The other 20%? Not so much.
Trump’s obsession with tariffs falls into the latter category. The president announced a new blanket of tariffs last week, with 10% on all imports and much steeper tariffs on countries like China that Trump deems the “worst offenders.”
The markets have not responded well, and for good reason. The fear of a broader trade war is very much a reality if Trump insists on keeping his big, beautiful tariffs in place.
This all got me thinking about why Trump was reelected in the first place. Voters were sick of former President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy and the southern border, and they believed Trump was in the best position to fix both.
Trump promised to deliver a secure border and lower prices. He’s done a bang-up job so far on the former, with migrant arrests at record lows because far fewer people are trying to cross the border illegally.
It’s harder to defend his actions on the economy. He’s supportive of extending the expiring 2017 cuts, which will benefit pretty much all Americans, and that’s vital.
Yet, Trump’s tariffs risk canceling the benefits of those tax breaks.
Americans are still reeling from when inflation hit 40-year highs of about 9% in 2022. The tariffs could well ignite another inflationary firestorm and slow economic growth, which means higher prices and marginal income increases.
Trump has a bromance with Argentine President Javier Milei. He should listen to him.
I recently returned from a vacation in Argentina, and there are lessons the president should learn from what’s happened there.
The No. 1 issue that got Argentine President Javier Milei elected in 2023 was the economy. Inflation had reached astronomical levels – upwards of 200% ‒ and the economy was tanking.
In a little over a year, Milei, a libertarian economist, has pulled the country out of recession and reduced inflation significantly (although it remains high by U.S. standards). Poverty has also dropped.
I talked to Argentinians about what they thought of their president. Most said they don’t like Milei’s personality, but they were willing to give him a shot to save the economy.
Sound familiar?
Milei has delivered by following the free-market playbook and has chastised the Western world to emulate his approach.
That includes moving Argentina away from tariffs and other protectionist policies that fueled its economic crisis.
“We need to give back to Argentines the freedom to trade with whomever they wish, so that goods and services can enter the local market and everyone can freely buy better quality products at a better price,” Milei told Argentina’s Congress last month. “For decades, under the premise of protecting a handful of jobs, the cost of living was deliberately made more expensive for millions of Argentines. In many cases, even forcing them to purchase goods of dubious quality at completely distorted prices.”
“Therefore,” he said, “enough of the protectionist lie, because, in the end, it is nothing more than a scam between politicians and rent-seeking businessmen.”
Tariffs are taxes on consumers. Period.
I bring up Milei because Trump likes him. (The feeling is mutual.)
“I love him because he loves Trump,” Trump has said of Milei. “Anybody that loves me, I like them.”
Milei has visited Trump often since his reelection in November (he was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last week) and respects many of Trump’s policies, such as his fight against “wokeness.”
It’s hard to believe, however, that Milei would support this latest round of tariffs.
All of the top free-market minds – think renowned economists Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell – understand that tariffs hurt consumers. They are taxes that raise prices and reduce choices.
Just look at what happened with tariffs on washing machines, which Trump levied during his first term, along with other, more targeted, taxes compared with his latest round of tariffs.
The result? Washing machines cost more, and job creation in the industry was minimal.
“We call a tariff a protective measure,” the late Friedman observed. “It does protect. It protects the consumer very well against one thing. It protects the consumer against low prices. And yet we call it protection.”
Trump seems willing to take advice from people he admires (and who like him). Just look at how he met with right-wing provocateur and MAGA lover Laura Loomer last week. And he’s relied heavily on the help of Tesla CEO Elon Musk to cut the size of government.
Trump has rallied for tariffs and railed against trade deficits for decades, and he ran on instating them to bring back jobs and “economic security.”
There are many people, especially in my part of the world (Michigan), who want to see manufacturing jobs return to the United States. But at what cost?
I don’t think it’s one most Americans are willing to pay. I would suggest Trump talk tariffs with Milei, who could school him on what they did to his country.
Trust me, it’s not what America wants to emulate – and it’s not what voters elected Trump to do.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques