Conservatives, why has the MAGA movement seemingly abandoned key principles of economic liberalism?
Trump has recently announced that he will be moving forward with his blanket tariffs on several countries: 25% on Mexico, 25% on Canada, 20% on China, and potentially 25% on EU countries, among others.
First, let’s discuss companies that export products, using agriculture as an example. About 20% of U.S. farm production is exported. If retaliatory blanket tariffs are imposed in response to ours, a significant portion of those exports could lose market value, reducing farmers’ profits.
Consumers will also be affected because the losses caused by these tariffs will be passed on. Since retaliatory tariffs will reduce the amount of U.S. agricultural exports, that lost revenue can easily be transferred to consumers by farmers through higher prices on final products.
Conservatives, do you think Trump’s isolationist and protectionist economic policies will have positive or negative effects? Economic liberalism has been a core conservative principle for decades, so why are you abandoning the free trade policies championed by Ronald Reagan, economist Milton Friedman, and many others? Free trade was once a pro-business, pro-consumer stance supported by both sides—so what has caused the right’s shift toward isolationism and protectionism? I understand targeted tariffs on specific industries, but why do you think it is wise to impose blanket tariffs on some of our closest trading partners? It can be argued that free trade significantly contributed to America’s position as the world’s largest economic superpower, fueling the American golden age, so I argue that these tariff policies contradict what made America’s economy great in the first place.