America’s Unserious Presidential Policy Agendas
One of the strangest aspects of this election is that supporters of both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have argued that you should vote for them not because they would enact specific policies they have proposed, but because they wouldn’t.Â
Trump, for example, has repeatedly called for a universal 20 percent tariff on goods entering the United States. You might think this would worry some of Trump’s supporters in the business community, since tariffs make supply chains more expensive and more fragile, and generally drive up the cost of goods and services. But at least some of Trump’s high-profile business backers have argued that this doesn’t matter because Trump won’t enact them.Â
Some Trump boosters have dismissed this idea on the basis that Trump often blusters, pops off with unrealistic or unworkable policy ideas, and generally shouldn’t be taken seriously. But this is tantamount to an argument that Trump is just a con man or a liar. That’s not a good reason to vote for him.Â
A somewhat better version of this argument, which is still not a very good one, is that this is just a smart negotiating tactic: Trump doesn’t really want widespread, economy-crushing tariffs. Instead, as Trump backer Howard Lutnick has argued, his call for huge import fees is just a “bargaining tool” that would be used as leverage against other countries in trade negotiations. In this view, Trump’s call for high all-around tariffs is actually a secret ploy to reduce international trade barriers. It’s a remarkable rhetorical trick that transforms Trump’s wildest anti-trade proposal into a secret vehicle for boosting international trade.Â
It’s true that Trump has sometimes said that he prefers to negotiate by starting with a preposterously big ask and then accepting something less. But recasting Trump’s giant tariff proposal as a clever negotiating ploy ignores the Republican candidate’s long history of backing damaging trade restrictions. Trump is not exactly known for his policy depth or consistency, but support for tariffs specifically and a more mercantilist trade policy generally is probably his clearest and most consistently espoused policy view. He might try to impose broad-based tariffs, if given the chance.Â
Or he might not. It’s fair to say that we don’t know, because while Trump has a long history of pushing tariffs, he also has a long history of exaggeration, bluffs, brain farts, reversals, and outright lies about issues lar
Article from Reason.com
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