Trump has turned on longtime allies, labeling them a national security threat in order to levy 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. For neighboring Mexico, this will affect some $3 billion in exports. While not insignificant, it is just a speck of the $300 billion-plus the nation sends north each year (for Canada, steel and aluminum comprise $11.5 billion of more than $300 billion in U.S.-bound trade).
Yet the size of the tariffs belies their true import. They officially bury the already dying NAFTA renegotiation. They threaten the integrated industries that send basic inputs back and forth across the border, hurting manufacturers, workers, and consumers alike. And more broadly, notwithstanding the president's repeated claims, they demonstrate that trade wars aren't easy to win.
Read Full Article »