President Trump has been back in office for just two weeks, and already, the usual suspects are howling about his trade policies. The outrage is predictable, the talking points rehearsed: tariffs will crush consumers, destroy jobs, cause inflation, and unravel the global economy. This is the same hysteria that greeted his first round of tariffs in 2018, and yet, somehow, the world did not end. What is striking, however, is not the substance of the criticisms—some of which have merit—but the sheer, staggering hypocrisy of the Democratic response.
Let’s be clear: a tariff is a tax, and it’s a tax on trade. Like any other tax, it causes that which is taxed to be done less, so a tax on trade reduces trade, which slows the economy. It raises the cost of imported goods, and in many cases, that cost is passed on to consumers. It distorts the market, and often invites retaliation. As a conservative who believes in free trade, I generally do not celebrate tariffs as an economic strategy, barring exceptional circumstances. In a perfect world, trade would be as open as possible, with nations competing fairly, and consumers reaping the benefits of lower prices and greater choices. But we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a world where many of America’s so-called allies, trading partners, an antagonists game the system to their own advantage—manipulating currencies, subsidizing their industries, imposing hidden trade barriers that put American businesses at a disadvantage, and otherwise taking advantage of us.
For decades, the United States has played by the rules, while other nations have exploited those rules to their benefit. European nations, for example, slap heavy tariffs on American products while expecting full access to the U.S. market for their goods. They even use quasi-tariffs in the form of environmental regulation to keep our cars out of their markets. Japan and South Korea, despite their alliances with the U.S., have long engaged in protectionist policies that make it difficult for American automobiles and manufactured goods to gain a foothold in their markets. India imposes some of the highest tariffs in the world on American imports, even as it benefits from trade access to the U.S. economy. And many Latin American nations, despite trade agreements, still find ways to tilt the playing field in their favor, while their people flood our country by the millions.
And yet, it is only when an American president pushes back—only when the U.S. government decides to stop being a doormat for foreign interests—that the cries of alarm begin.
What makes this latest round of outrage particularly absurd is that the same people now panicking over Trump’s tariffs were silent—if not outright supportive—when President Biden imposed his own trade restrictions. Just eight months ago, Biden announced new tariffs on $18 billion worth of imports from multiple countries, including:
- 100% tariffs on electric vehicles from China, effectively shutting out foreign EV manufacturers.
- 50% tariffs on solar panels, doubling the existing rate.
- 50% tariffs on semiconductors, ensuring foreign chipmakers couldn’t undercut American production.
- 25% tariffs on lithium-ion batteries, controlling foreign dominance in the EV supply chain.
- 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, tariffs that Trump first imposed, which Biden quietly kept in place.
- 25% tariffs on critical minerals, restricting foreign control over essential industrial materials.
There was no outcry when Biden imposed these measures. No breathless news reports about how tariffs would devastate the economy. No lectures about how raising barriers to trade would increase costs for American consumers. Instead, these tariffs were quietly framed as “necessary” measures to protect American industry.
Indeed, the idea that tariffs are a novel creation of Trumpian design is an outright falsehood. The United States has imposed tariffs on imported goods for centuries. Before Trump even took office the first time in 2017, the United States already had tariffs in place on over 12,000 different imported goods—with some of the highest rates in the world on products like textiles (up to 38%), trucks (25%), and certain agricultural goods (over 100% in cases like sugar and peanuts).
But now that Trump is back and implementing his own tariffs, we are told that this is reckless, protectionist, and destructive, even though none represent a radical departure from what Biden, Obama, or even Bush and Clinton have done. If tariffs are truly an existential threat to the U.S. economy, where was the outcry when Biden imposed them? Where was the outrage when Obama slapped 35% tariffs on foreign tires in 2009? Where was the hysteria when Biden left Trump’s 25% steel tariffs untouched for four years?
The answer is simple: Democrats don’t actually care about tariffs. What they care about is opposing Donald Trump at all costs. The facts of economic policy are irrelevant to them; what matters is narrative control. If a Democrat imposes tariffs, it is a responsible measure to defend American workers. If Trump imposes tariffs, it is reckless populism.
Beyond the hypocrisy, critics they ignore the larger role tariffs play in global policy negotiations. The reality is that tariffs are not just about raising revenue or protecting domestic industries—they are also a crucial tool of economic diplomacy.
For decades, the U.S. has tolerated unfair trade practices from foreign nations, hoping that diplomatic goodwill alone would bring change. It hasn’t. Many of these nations have grown accustomed to one-sided trade arrangements that benefit them while disadvantaging American workers. A well-placed tariff can change that equation.
Tariffs force other nations to the negotiating table. They create leverage. They remind foreign governments that access to the American market—one of the largest and most valuable in the world—is not something to be taken for granted. And they remind those same governments that we are not to be taken advantage of in other ways. Consider the recent exchange with Colombia, refusing to take back their own illegal immigrants until Trump threatened tariffs, which caused the Colombians to back down in a matter of hours. If the U.S. must absorb some short-term economic pain in order to secure long-term interessts, that is a tradeoff worth considering.
Trade should be as open and free as possible—but it must also be fair. For too long, the U.S. has played the role of a naïve idealist in a world of economic realists. Other nations protect their industries, manipulate their currencies, and rig trade agreements in their favor, all while America continues to play by the rules. Trump, for all his flaws, understands something that the globalist elite in Washington refuse to accept: economic strength is national strength, and trade policy is about more than just profit margins—it’s about sovereignty.
So yes, I have my reservations about tariffs. I wish they weren’t necessary. But what I despise more than a bad economic policy is a dishonest political argument. If Democrats want to argue that tariffs are harmful, fine. But let them first explain why Biden’s tariffs were acceptable and Trump’s are not. Let them admit that they sat silent while Biden imposed many of the same policies they now claim are destructive. Let them acknowledge that trade is not just a question of supply chains and price tags, but of global power and national security.
Until then, their complaints deserve nothing more than dismissal. Their outrage is not about policy. It is about politics. And the American people should see it for exactly what it is.