https://www.frontpagemag.com/trumps-america-first-tariffs/
Tariffs have figured prominently in the news since President Trump returned to the White House. He says that ‘tariff’ is one of his favorite words and lauds the 25th U.S. president, William McKinley, for using tariffs to achieve his goal of protecting the American economy. President Trump has brandished the specter of tariffs as leverage in advancing his own economic and national security objectives. They include enhancing cross-border security with Canada and Mexico, reshoring manufacturing back to the United States, reducing trade deficits with U.S.’s trading partners through fairer trade agreements, protecting American workers’ jobs, and safeguarding America’s national security. But tariffs have become a rapidly moving, economically volatile issue with potentially unintended consequences and unpredictable outcomes. Tariffs can backfire badly and hurt American consumers and manufacturers if they are not carefully calibrated to ensure that their benefits clearly outweigh their costs.
On the other hand, if tariffs are used with precision against the right targets at the right time and their purpose is clearly communicated, tariffs can play a valuable role in protecting America’s economy and national security. Just the mere threat of tariffs provides great leverage in overcoming the resistance of other countries to key U.S. demands.
President Trump has scored early successes with his tariff policies. Colombia backed down and reversed its initial refusal to take back its citizens deported from the United States after the president threatened to impose steep tariffs. President Trump also threatened Canada and Mexico with 25 percent tariffs on their exports to the U.S. if they did not show considerably more progress in securing their borders with the U.S. and stopping the cross-border flow of fentanyl. The two countries immediately began to step up their efforts to do just that, in return for which President Trump agreed to delay the imposition of these tariffs for now except on aluminum and steel.
President Trump has other tariff policy objectives besides border security. Promoting fair trade between the U.S. and its trading partners is a key objective.