We are open-minded to the reciprocal tariffs idea, but we strongly oppose Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.  They didn’t work in Trump’s first term and they won’t work now. As Alex Tabarrok of George Mason University points out, we lost way more jobs in manufacturing from steel tariffs than we gained:

Tabarrok also notes that Bush steel tariffs didn’t work either:

“Going back further, a good analysis from Lydia Cox of the Bush steel tariffs found that even though the tariffs were temporary, they led to a rearrangement of supply chains which led to long-lasting declines in exports and employment in steel using industries.”

Let’s not do that again.