LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The president’s new tariff policy is not an act of leadership. It is an act of quiet economic coercion — taxing the many to serve the few, cloaked in the language of toughness but driven by grievance and imbalance. It masquerades as protectionism but functions as a subtle transfer of burden from the powerful to the powerless.
Tariffs are not paid by foreign governments. They are taxes on imports, and those costs are passed to consumers. According to the Federal Reserve, while a handful of domestic industries like steel manufacturing saw shortterm benefits, the broader economy suffered a net loss in jobs. For every job protected in steel, 1.5 jobs were lost in industries like auto manufacturing, construction, machinery, and retail, where input costs rose and demand fell.
The winners? Steel companies, a few aluminum producers, and political operatives who get to pose for photo ops in hard hats. The losers? Farmers, automakers, homebuilders, repair technicians, and working families, who now face higher prices on cars, appliances, tools, and everyday goods. Farmers were hit especially hard by retaliatory tariffs. U.S. soybean exports to China fell by 75% in 2018, prompting a $28 billion taxpayer bailout: a government “cure” for a government-inflicted wound.
Let’s be clear: this is a political trick. Create economic hardship through policy, then offer aid as a personal favor. It’s taking food off the table, only to return it with a signature and a flag. That’s not governance. That’s manipulation.
Some claim these tariffs help American industry. But without strategic investment in jobs, technology, and wage growth, they’re a bandage over a cutoff finger. They make American goods more expensive, not more competitive, and burden those with the least ability to pay. The average household lost $831 annually under the last tariff regime, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. This is a de facto regressive tax, felt more deeply by the working poor than the wealthy.
And yet, the administration’s true motive remains unclear. Some possibilities include: * Deflecting from a $3 trillion deficit caused by tax cuts for the ultrawealthy * Manufacturing foreign enemies to rally political support at home * Appealing to voters in swing states with performative toughness * Or, more darkly, creating a climate of constant strain, where economic pressure reduces people’s freedom to dissent These are speculative, and the public should reason through them using logic and intuition. But the outcomes are not speculative. They are measurable. And they are unjust.
Worse than the economics is the corrosion of our civic soul. Targeted tariffs, wielded not to protect but to punish, fracture the bonds between nations. They erode diplomacy and cast neighbors as threats. This is not how a moral republic behaves. This is not strength. This is economic strangulation disguised as patriotism. And it undermines the moral commandment to love thy neighbor, across the street and across the sea.
History shows us the danger of scapegoating, of blaming outsiders for internal decay. From the trade wars of the 1930s that deepened the Great Depression, to nationalist movements that turned economic anxiety into xenophobia, the pattern is clear: when governments mask economic failure with foreign blame, ordinary people pay the price, often in blood and dignity.
Whether motivated by grievance, ego, or a desire to centralize power, the result is the same: pain at the bottom, power at the top. This is not justice. It is policy as punishment.
To reverse course, we must act. Flip Congress. Institute a fair tax structure that funds public goods without hiding behind tariffs. Support trade policies that reward fairness, not favoritism. And rebuild a moral economy rooted in truth, dignity, and shared prosperity.
Economic justice is not a partisan idea. It’s an American one.
Chase Norris San Marcos
