Trump's trade war disaster

Those people who voted for Trump and lose their jobs as a result of today's insanity have nobody but themselves to blame, because he never made any secret of his protectionist views.

But implementing his threat to put tariffs on imported steel and aluminium is nevertheless a disaster for the world, including America.

I didn't agree with everything that EU President Donald Tusk said this week, but in the war of the Donalds,

when Donald Trump said "Trade wars are good and easy to win"

and Donald Tusk said "Trade wars are bad and easy to lose"

in my opinion Donald Tusk is 100% right and Donald Trump is 100% wrong.

And it's true even if there is no retaliation. There are a lot more jobs in the US industries which use steel and for whom the Donald has just put up their costs than there are in the steel industry for whom he has just reduced the competition they face.

I agree with the arguments of Ryan Bourne here that the EU should not retaliate. Because Trump has done something mad and hurt both ourselves and his own country does not make it sensible for us to retaliate by hurting his country and ourselves.

Trade has been a massive generator of prosperity and wealth not just for the rich but for the majority. Perhaps the political mainstream has not done enough to ensure that extra wealth is shared and the minority who lose out are protected; certainly we have not done enough to explain the benefits of trade.

We need to try harder to convince those people who have a working brain that the unholy alliance of  nutcases on the looney-socialist hard left and the looney xenophobic hard right will make the country and the vast majority of people, including many of the least well off, poorer if we listen to their anti-trade views.

Lord Macauley wrote many years ago that


Unfortunately his pessimistic comment is still far too often entirely correct. It is past time we tried harder to change this.

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