President Trump promised to put America first when it comes to foreign trade. Most conservatives think this is a good thing: why should we let Japan manipulate its currency with impunity? Why does the U.S. government allow China to dump below-cost goods into the American market, killing local industries? These concerns are reasonable.
The Financial Times accuses President Trump of suffering from an odious, if tongue-in-cheek malady called trade deficit disorder (TDD). The symptoms? A bizarre and unjustified desire to impose tariffs, thereby ensuring America sells as much as it buys on the international markets. Of course, Trump is not suffering alone with this malady: many
A Chinese factory made international headlines two years ago by firing 90 percent of its workers, while simultaneously making 162.5 percent more stuff. How did they do it? Automation. Since then the mainstream media has worked itself, and many Americans, into a frenzy over “job-stealing” robots. Automation will cause mass unemployment and poverty,
Donald Trump fulfilled his campaign promise to withdraw the United States from the much-reviled Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on his first day in office. This was a big win for his supporters, his detractors—America as a whole. The problem is that leaving TPP is meaningless as long as America remains in the Trade in
