Let me start this post by noting that levying tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada will not, over the long run, have any appreciable impact on immigration or illicit drug smuggling. Even if it all leads to some action on the part of the Canadian or Mexican governments that the Trump administration will claim as a victory, I am confident in saying it won’t be the victory claimed and it certainly won’t be worth the cost. Immigration is a massive, complex, and difficult problem that the US is, ultimately unwilling to really address in a mature fashion. And there is no amount of pressure that can be put on our neighbors to the north and south that will fully and completely staunch the flow of drugs into the United States.
This is just the reality of the situation.
Incantations and magic words (tariffs!) will not stop either the human will to better themselves via migration or the insatiable appetite that some have for intoxicants.
Both issues can only be managed, and only then with an acceptance of reality. Economic attacks on allies that are paid by otherwise innocent citizens of the US and our allies are not the solution.
And yet, here we are.
- Via WaPo: Trump imposes tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
- Via Business Today: ‘Make them pay’: Canada puts Trump’s ‘first friend’ Elon Musk’s Tesla in the crosshairs of tariff war.
- Via the CBC: B.C. premier announces countermeasures against U.S. tariffs, including ban on ‘red-state’ liquor.
This is bad economics and it will create harm at home and abroad while producing no justifiable benefits.
It is a foolish self-own.
And it is interesting, to put it mildly, to watch Republicans embrace tax increases, which is what these tariffs are. Not only are they tax increases, but they are also the kind that creates immediate economic harm in exactly the opposite way that supposedly motivated GOP voters in the first place.
Instead of taxing the wealthy, these taxes directly affect the common, non-wealthy, consumer the most.
Heckuva job, GOP voters.
Just awesome.
