Three Strikes for Tariff Myths

John Stossel addresses three myths about tariffs that Donald Trump and his followers keep repeating.

While this isn't a comprehensive demolition, it is valuable for its efficient marshaling of facts that directly contradict the MAGA pro-tariff narrative. The piece makes memorable short rebuttals for each along the way.

Below is each myth as Stossel describes it in italics, followed by a short rebuttal:

1. Tariffs protect American jobs. Gain a thousand jobs [from steel tariffs], lose 75,000.
2. We need tariffs because America runs trade deficits with other countries.I run a trade deficit with my supermarket. I give them money. They never give me money. ... The economy sorts it out.
3. We need tariffs because global trade hollowed out America's manufacturing base. American industrial output is near an all-time high. Unemployment, now at 4.2 percent, is much lower than it was when I grew up.

I was at first inclined to feel dissatisfied with the piece, but liked it better when I remembered another headline I encountered this morning: One Thing Helping Trump’s Approval Rating: Some People Are Not Paying Attention.

We're not all policy wonks, nor is everyone who thinks Trump is doing a good job a clapping seal. People who haven't the time or inclination to follow the news are reachable, and this is the sort of piece that can reach many of them, either by being a brief read or by being easy to cite by those who have read it.

-- CAV