Trade Is Not a Four-Letter Word

Trade affects consumers everywhere in the world.

What Americans buy – and how much it costs – is largely a function of global supply chains and international trade policy. Trade, of course, brings trade-offs. A pact that allows for denim imports to the United States could result in the closing of an American textile mill. For the workers who lose their jobs, the shift would be difficult, even catastrophic. However, the broader result is lower prices for denim products. Dozens might lose their jobs, but millions of working-class families can then afford blue jeans. And globalization has lifted a billion people out of poverty, including hundreds of millions in China and India.

President Donald Trump made trade a centerpiece of his administration, and he aggressively imposed tariffs. While he touted tariffs as a way to protect American jobs, the actual effect is that tariffs act as a tax on US consumers and raise the prices of imported products. Trump isn’t the first politician to portray trade as American workers’ enemy: During the 1992 presidential campaign, third-party candidate Ross Perot criticized...