David Frum: “Donald Trump is campaigning for president on a vow to hike tariffs on foreign goods: 10 percent on all goods from all countries—or even 20 percent, as he has more recently suggested—topped by an extra-punitive rate of at least 60 percent on goods from China. Economists estimate that Trump’s brain wave would raise costs for the typical American family by at least $1,700 a year.”
“Trump’s screw-the-consumer tariff plan should create a grand political opening for his opponents. There’s just one small problem: The Biden-Harris administration’s record is almost as anti-trade as Trump’s. Trump was the most protectionist president since Herbert Hoover. Biden is a strong runner-up.”
“Voters do not seem to blame Vice President Kamala Harris for the price increases of the Biden years. One way for her to lock in that advantage? Repudiate the price-hiking trade protectionism of the past eight years—and recommit to open trade and its enormous advantages for almost all Americans.”
