Trump’s sweeping tariffs: Blowing up the world trading system will have consequences…

There will certainly be higher costs for American consumers and businesses. Tariffs are taxes, and when you tax something you get less of it…Over time this will mean the gradual erosion of U.S. competitiveness. Tariffs that blunt competition invite monopoly profits while reducing the need to innovate. This is the story of the American steel and car industries in the 1950s and 1960s before global competition exposed their deficiencies.