Last week, Donald Trump didn’t just impose tariffs. He imposed reality.
If you actually care about free trade, you have to make others care about free trade with you
And the world is reacting exactly as he said it would: by lining up to offer trade concessions, slash their own tariffs, and — increasingly — negotiate free trade on reasonable terms. As of Sunday morning, at least 28 countries have contacted the White House to begin trade negotiations.
Not trade wars. Trade negotiations.
For decades, Washington allowed the U.S. to be the world’s economic doormat. And that made sense…during the Cold War. Allies and adversaries alike imposed massive tariff and non-tariff barriers, ran up obscene trade surpluses, and called it “free trade”, all while lecturing us on “global cooperation.”
Trump changed the conversation. Now he’s changing behavior.
I have argued for free trade for decades. I still am. But it’s that behavior change that’s been needed all along. If you actually care about free trade, you have to make others care about free trade with you.
America has the power to do that. It’s the world’s biggest consumer market in a world of exporters. They need us more than we need them.
Let’s be clear: Trump’s new reciprocal tariffs — with rates rising as high as 50% for chronic abusers — isn’t punishment. It’s leverage. Trump isn’t even charging our trading “partners” the full amount they’re charging us: he’s leaving room to add more should they be intransigent, while making them feel a portion of the pain they’ve made us used to.
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