First, we ought to recognize the distinction between exporting jobs by way of the Internet to India and exporting manufacturing jobs, for example, to China on the one hand and imposing tariffs on legitimate imports that honestly compete on the other hand.
Second, we ought to at least have some understanding of whether it is "globalization" that is causing the malaise in the American economy or whether it is mostly regulations and taxes. There is a great weight of opinion that insists that it is the latter and not the former. If we do not know what is causing the problems we simply don't know how to fix it.
Heretofore, the problem has not been a one of tariffs, in my judgment, but a want of diligence in enforcing the treaty rules. Even where we are up against foreign courts who may be be biased, we have not exhausted or even pursued our remedies. We have not jawboned and we have not effectively used are considerable weight as a consumer nation. That we should do but that is an entirely different matter from willy-nilly imposing tariffs.
Before we punish our own consumers, tax our own economy with tariffs, punish our own exporters by guaranteeing retaliatory tariffs, we ought to know what the hell we are talking about. And we certainly ought not to act in reflex.
