Trump’s tariffs aim to reset global trade — and boost America’s workers

President Trump ushered in a new era of US trade policy Tuesday — a national course correction after decades of unfair trade practices harmed American industries and exposed the wider economy to unsustainable trade deficits.

Advocates for the failed “free trade” paradigm will cast short-term price increases, stock market fluctuations and supply chain disruptions as catastrophic, but they ignore the immense costs of their recent strategy.

We must make a radical change to salvage America’s wealth, economic security and middle class, preventing a true catastrophe down the road.

For the millions of US workers and families who have lost their jobs and communities to globalization, the catastrophe has already happened. Cheap foreign goods do not make up for those losses. 

Since signing on to NAFTA and the World Trade Organization agreements, the US trade deficit skyrocketed from $28 billion in 1991 to $918 billion in 2024. This means the United States consumes almost a trillion dollars more per year than it produces.