So much for the idea that President Trump views tariffs as a negotiating tool to reduce everyone else’s tariffs. That was always implausible, and the illusion went poof Wednesday with Mr. Trump’s executive order imposing 25% tariffs on all imported cars and trucks. He wants border taxes for their own sake, so get used to it.
Mr. Trump justifies his car tariffs as a “national security” threat under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act. As we wrote in 2019 when he tried this gambit, he apparently fears the attack of the killer Toyotas.
I miss Reagan. He had a simpler way of dealing with this. When the American auto unions went to him to demand import restrictions and tariffs on Japanese cars, he told them that people bought Japanese cars because they were cheaper and better quality than American ones. If they made better and cheaper cars, Americans would buy them.
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