Former President Donald Trump Promises to Impose Tariffs On All Foreign Imports In Order to Protect American Jobs
Jose Nino
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Former President Donald Trump vows to implement a broad-based tariff agenda on all foreign imports. Such a move would be designed to protect American labor and prop up working class wages.
At Wolfeboro, New Hampshire where he gave a campaign speech, Trump announced before Republican primary voters that he would impose United States tariffs on all foreign imports should he be re-elected as President. Specifically, he would pressure Congress to pass former Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy’s Reciprocal Trade Act.
“To protect New Hampshire workers and families, I will impose an across-the-board tariff on foreign-made goods,” Trump declared:
“I will also pass the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act. If China or any other country makes us pay a 100 or 200 percent tariff, we will make them pay a reciprocal tariff of 100 or 200 percent right back. And as taxes on foreign countries go up, taxes on American workers, families, and small businesses will come down, and down dramatically.”
Back in August, Trump hinted at a policy to impose 10% tariffs on all foreign imports. Trump’s pro-tariff agenda is a blast from the past, to an era when both political parties used tariffs as the primary revenue generating system for the federal government as opposed to the more intrusive system of income taxation.
To be sure, tariffs will make certain products more expensive, but they’re much less intrusive and they don’t tax productive activity like the litany of other taxes present at the federal level. The fact of the matter is that since the introduction of the income tax and the Federal Reserve, the US federal government has experienced an alarming increase in its size.
We can reverse this trend by gradually phasing out income taxation, using tariffs instead, while working to abolish the Fed.
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