“Protective” tariffs do not protect American workers

Tariffs Do Not Protect American Workers — They Harm American Consumers

Introduction

Tariffs are blunt instruments in an era of precision economics. Originally imposed to protect infant industries, they now often damage the very industrial sectors they claim to defend. Worse, they unfairly increase the cost of the goods and increasingly, services that Americans must purchase in an interdependent global marketplace.

Today’s economy is powered by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) — firms built for agility, speed, and cross-border integration. Tariffs wreck those business models — raising costs, choking logistics, and triggering retaliation.

Tariffs Hurt American Consumers, Not Just Foreign Countries

Tariffs do not protect American workers. Tariffs punish American consumers.

• Prices spike on everyday essentials: refrigerators, washing machines, inhalers, smartphones, and replacement car parts. The cost of a washing machine rose by <<>>% after the 2018 tariffs.
• SMEs suffer as affordable components become costly or unavailable.
• Supply chains unravel, grinding innovation and competitiveness to a halt.
• Exporters lose as foreign governments retaliate with tariffs of their own.

Tariffs disproportionately burden lower- and middle-income households in America. Protectionism may sound patriotic. But it weakens the economy from within.

The Myth of “Reciprocal” Tariffs

On April 2 — “Liberation Day” — the United States imposed a blanket 10% tariff on imports from nearly every nation, including countries with which it runs a trade surplus (like the United Kingdom), and even uninhabited territories such as the Heard and McDonald Islands. The policy was promoted as part of a “fair and reciprocal” trade plan. But the logic behind it was dangerously simplistic.

The Flawed Formula:
Here’s how the U.S. Trade Representative explained the administration tariff policy:

“Reciprocal tariffs are calculated as the tariff rate necessary to balance bilateral trade deficits… the rates that would drive bilateral trade deficits to zero were computed.”

According to this formula:
(Trade Deficit - Value of Imports) ÷ 2 = Tariff Rate
(Minimum: 10%)

The result was arbitrary, punitive tariffs on major trading partners, such as China, Vietnam, and the European Union, based on transitory and often misleading trade balances. Every economist not wearing a political armband understands that trade deficits are macroeconomic phenomena, driven by national savings and investment, not tariff rates.

The Currency Consequence

Tariffs were supposed to strengthen the U.S. dollar by asserting economic dominance. Instead, they triggered a loss of confidence in U.S. financial stewardship.

• Import prices soared, compounding the burden on American households.
• Global investors grew cautious, wary of erratic trade politics.
• Other nations devalued their currencies in response to protect their exports, starting a “race to the bottom.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that such monetary retaliation cycles threaten global growth, increase inflation risk, and erode long-term stability. The strength of a currency rests not just on interest rates, but on leadership, the anchor of any national currency.

Tariffs snap that anchor. And when they do, the economy doesn’t surge forward. It drifts rudderless, lashed by global markets like a ship in a storm.

Energy Policy and the Illusion of Dominance

The Northern Passage & the Asymmetrical Threat

While the U.S. controls access to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans, as well as the Gulf of Mexico, climate change has unlocked the Northern Passage. Once a fable, it now connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, providing a strategic corridor for Russian and Chinese fleets. The Arctic, once a natural barrier, now exposes the United States to asymmetrical maritime threats it is ill-prepared to meet.

Natural Gas and Un-Natural Arrogance

The belief that natural gas exports will transform the U.S. into an energy superpower is grounded in fantasy, not strategy.

• Saudi Aramco has invested over $25 billion in natural gas development — eclipsing U.S. LNG infrastructure.
• Saudi Arabia intends to generate 50% of its electricity from gas by 2030, reinforcing its petrochemical leadership.
• Asian and European buyers, wary of U.S. unpredictability, diversify their suppliers accordingly.

The Fallacy of LNG Dominance

Energy may be the new global currency, but no nation owns the mint. In a tariff-constrained world, LNG cannot buy dominance. Hubris does not equal hegemony. American natural gas is abundant, but abundance is not a strategy and arrogance is not a policy.

What Energy Diplomacy Requires

• Reliable partnerships built on trust, not tariffs.
• Investment in renewables and resilience, not just exports.
• Maritime security that adapts to climate reality, not Cold War nostalgia.

Without this, LNG risks becoming a stranded asset and the symbol of a stranded worldview.

A Better Path Forward

A 21st-century economy demands more than 19th-century tactics. Rather than weaponize tariffs, the United States should:

• Invest in STEM education, workforce training, and research.
• Build manufacturing ecosystems connected to, not isolated from, global markets.
• Secure supply chains through strategic diversity, not self-defeating economic isolation.
• Promote currency stability through credibility, not coercion.

Trade policy should be wielded like a scalpel — not a cudgel.

Conclusion

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 deepened the Great Depression and fractured global cooperation. Today’s tariffs, no matter how rebranded, threaten to repeat that mistake. We have seen this before. But we don’t have to see it again. These tariffs offer drama, not durability. They harm consumers, stifle innovation, and alienate allies. Tariffs do not protect American workers. They harm American consumers.

In a world shaped by currency and economic complexity facing the threats from global climate changes, the United States must lead with strategy, not slogans.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License: This webpage and its contents are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free to share and adapt this material, provided you give appropriate credit and share any derivatives under the same license.