Trump's Tariffs Won't Work

Is imported steel a threat to national security? How about aluminum? The White House has its suspicions, and plans to invoke an arcane statute to investigate. If the probes turn up anything, President Donald Trump will have essentially unlimited power to restrict or limit imports in response.

Despite the administration's claims, this sounds like a pretext for imposing tariffs outside of the normal trade-dispute system, in an effort to pressure China. That would be unwise: New tariffs won't do much to change China's behavior but will hurt U.S. consumers and businesses. Worse, relying on a flimsy national-security rationale could set a disturbing precedent.