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.
