, Columnist
The High Cost of U.S. Protectionism
How steel tariffs hurt American business and workers.
Tariffs keep the lights off.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
We have been pushovers for too long when it comes to trade, says Donald Trump.
In a speech in Pennsylvania this week, he said: “When subsidized foreign steel is dumped into our markets, threatening our factories, the politicians do nothing. For years, they watched on the sidelines as our jobs vanished and our communities were plunged into depression-level unemployment.” He did, however, put in a kind word for the tariffs the Reagan administration imposed in the 1980s to protect U.S. semiconductor and motorcycle industries.