Douglas Irwin: Why Trump's Tariff Plans Are Dangerous

The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

"Tariff is the most beautiful word in the dictionary," says Donald Trump, who made many promises throughout the 2024 presidential race to raise the cost of imports from China, Mexico, and Canada—America's three biggest trading partners. But are Trump's tariffs a good idea or a terrible one? And is the era of free trade coming to a close?

That's the topic of today's Reason Interview. Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with Dartmouth economist Douglas Irwin, author of Trade Policy Disaster: Lessons from the 1930s and Free Trade under Fire, now in its fifth edition. They talk about the negative impacts of the tariffs that Trump levied in his first term; why Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden also trafficked in protectionism; and why free trade is always under attack despite its overall benefits.

0:00—Introduction
1:13—The fight for free trade
3:06—Donald Trump: "Tariff Man"
5:44—How tariffs affect consumers
9:03—Trump's political motivations behind tariffs
12:33—U.S. steel industry
15:15—The effect of protectionism on jobs
18:39—Automation, industry, and agriculture
25:40—China's protectionist policies
26:58—Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act
33:59—Free trade debates of the Ronald Regan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton eras
38:41—China's impact on markets
40:24—Populist arguments against free trade
44:49—The narrative about the baby formula shortage is wrong.
51:29—"Made in China" vs. "assembled in China"
52:41—The "Buy American" fallacy

Today's sponsor:

The Reason Speakeasy. The Reason Speakeasy is a monthly, unscripted conversation in New York City with outspoken defenders of free thinking and heterodoxy that doubles as a taping of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie. The next one takes place on January 21 with two of the nation's most notable proponents of immigration liberalization, David Bier and Bryan Caplan, who will join Nick for a timely discussion about the state of U.S. immigration policy in 2025. They will discuss the implications of the incoming Trump administration's immigration proposals and make the libertarian case for why more immigration will make America great again.

• Video Editor: Ian Keyser

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