James Jay Carafano
The new United States President, Donald J. Trump, channels his inner Alexander Hamilton, employing tariffs as an integral instrument of American foreign and economic policy. The sooner everyone starts focusing on the framework the President has been employing and less on the rhetoric, the quicker they can make sense of Trump’s tariffs.
Past Really is Prologue
Alexander Hamilton’s 1791 Report on Manufactures outlined a specific tariff policy. This report is relevant to Trump’s time. Hamilton’s analysis was rooted in prescribing a US foreign economic policy rooted in national interests—precisely how the President looks at economic policy.
Hamilton argued there were three valid reasons for tariffs—raise revenue, national security, and address market imbalances that hurt US manufacturers. To be fair, neither the Congress of the time nor subsequent presidents and legislatures followed his prescription to the letter. Historically, Republicans and Democrats have alternatively defended and decried tariffs. Tariffs have never been an issue of the orthodoxy of major American political parties.
That trend continues today where the parties stood and reflected on their geographical base and business interests. While Trump is attacked for his addiction to tariffs, the Biden administration implemented more duties than President Trump did in his first term.
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