“We call a tariff a protective measure. It does protect; it protects the consumer very well against one thing. It protects the consumer against low prices,” explained the great economist Milton Friedman in 1978.

Tariffs, after all, are not complicated to understand. They are taxes. When a country imposes tariffs on imports, they are imposing taxes on their own population.

Accordingly, the tariff-spree currently being undertaken by President Donald Trump is a massive tax increase on the American people.

As noted by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, Trump’s tariffs are their highest levels in decades.

“Under all the imposed tariffs, the weighted average applied tariff rate on all imports would rise to 19.9 percent, and the average effective tariff rate, reflecting how much tariff revenue the new tariffs would raise after incorporating behavioral responses, would rise to 11.8 percent under the current tariffs—the highest average rate since 1941,” they explain.

The cost of tariffs, of course, will be paid by the American people. It’s a lesson conservatives and Republicans seem to understand when it comes to tax increases proposed by Democrats. The cost of higher taxes imposed on businesses inevitably are passed on down to the consumer.

While Trump and supporters of tariffs might be able to point to some jobs created or saved thanks to the tariffs, many more will be lost as collateral damage. Over the next decade, the Tax Foundation notes, American GDP will be reduced by nearly 1% as a result of the tariffs. Think that’s not a big deal? Over 800,000 jobs on net will be lost thanks to the tariffs.

To keep it in terms California Republicans can understand: Remember the reasons for opposing split roll? Remember the reasons for opposing higher corporate taxes? Remember the reasons for opposing higher minimum wage mandates? Those apply to tariffs as well.

Sure, the do-gooders might be able to do good things with extra tax revenue. Sure, some people will benefit from higher minimum wages. But think about the bigger picture and the cascade of negative consequences. And normally, that’s what conservatives and Republicans do.

Yet, conservative and Republican opposition to taxes vanished as soon as President Trump wanted to increase taxes his way.

Yes, you have figures like Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky explaining to his colleagues that tariffs are bad economic policy and that it cuts against any constitutional principle for the president to impose them unilaterally. But that’s about it.

As much as it has been demonized,  Americans benefit from global trade every single day. From our food and clothing to our phones and cars. The president believes it’s best to tax imports. We can only imagine the screams of “Socialism!” if President Barack Obama did exactly what the president is doing in abusing his presidential powers to tax global commerce.

— From Tribune News Service