Economists have long rendered their own verdict on tariffs

To the editor: President Trump’s tariffs faced their day in court last week (“Why Trump’s tariff strategy could survive a Supreme Court defeat,” Nov. 7). Nine Supreme Court justices will soon decide their legality, but economists have long since rendered their verdict on their efficacy (or lack thereof).

The 19th century economist Henry George once wrote, “What protection teaches us is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.” Few lines better capture the folly of President Trump’s long-standing romance with tariffs.

Protectionism, George recognized, amounts to a self-imposed blockade. If blockades are an effective way to strangle an enemy’s economy, why would we ever voluntarily inflict such harm on ourselves?

Conservatives once understood this. Ronald Reagan declared that protectionism is “destructionism.” By taxing imports, we don’t punish foreigners. We punish ourselves. That’s not “America first” — it’s economic self-sabotage.

Scott Burns, Baton Rouge, La.