Remember how, after the September 11, 2001, attacks, the shock of a massive, deadly assault on our homeland was followed by the secondary shock of learning that a large chunk of the Muslim world had long been at war with us? And we hadn’t even known it?
That’s what’s happening now in the aftermath of Trump’s Liberation Day declaration. He wisely called his new import duties regimen “Reciprocal Tariffs,” because that’s what they are. President Trump didn’t start this war; he’s simply the first leader we’ve had in generations clear-headed enough to say, “Stop kicking us!”
My colleague Catherine Salgado laid out the truth in an article yesterday, writing, “The reality is that other countries have been imposing unfair tariffs on American goods while demanding no reciprocal tariffs for years. Trump is just insisting that other countries pay the same tariffs they require us to pay. The trade war already existed; it’s just that Trump wants to win.”
Cue the left-media hysteria. I won’t waste your time linking everything here — just read, click on, or view any news outlet, and you’ll get an eyeful.
Oh noes! Prices are higher on avocados and tomatoes from Mexico! Do you know what else comes from Mexico? Fentanyl, border jumpers, human trafficking, and mass-migration drains on public funds and services intended to help Americans. Not only that, our neighbors to the south (and the north) serve as back-door trade routes to cram Chinese products into U.S. markets while circumventing the tariffs we impose on direct Chinese imports.
Spare me the fretting and hysterics. None of what Trump is doing even approaches what the global left did to us in 2020. In a hysterical overreaction to a virus, the powers that be locked us down and basically cut the middle class off at the knees. Then, in an overreaction to that overreaction, they inflated the U.S. dollar sky-high.
As a result of that double whammy, millions of people lost their small businesses — their investment of blood, sweat and tears, their livelihood, and their dream — just swept away. Others were fired for not submitting to a novel mRNA shot. Even those of us lucky enough to keep working lost 20% of our purchasing power and the value of our assets. Yes, the stock market stayed high, but so what? The dollars we small investors earned were gobbled up by the catastrophic loss of purchasing power from Bidenflation.
Note that the image for this article, which features a scary stock market plunge, is from March of 2020. We’ve been through this sort of instability before — and for no real reason in that instance except hysteria and power grabs. At least this go-round, the principles behind the upheaval are solid.
Related: Where’d This Chick Even Come From? I Love What She’s Saying About Tariffs!
Another reason I’m not worried is that Trump knows what he’s doing. While the Liberation Day program may seem abrupt and uproarious to anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, the president has been thinking and talking about unfair trade conditions most of his adult life. For example, this 1988 video recently resurfaced, revealing that Trump’s trade policies are deeply thought out:
President Trump on Oprah Winfrey’s show in 1988.
“I’d make our allies pay their fair share.”
Today he did just that.
— Ian Jaeger (@IanJaeger29) April 2, 2025
So let me get this straight: Other countries have long disadvantaged the U.S. by levying heavy-duty duties on our imports while also undercutting our competitiveness by applying far lower standards to their manufacturing processes, including trashing the environment and even employing slave labor in some instances? (This is why, no matter how much I enjoy shopping, I have always resisted the siren call of cheap Chinese venues like Temu; I can’t support that in good conscience.) And now we are given an opportunity to fight back by charging a mere half of what our trading partners charge us in tariffs? Sign me up!
The question arose during Trump’s first campaign: Why are we not just the world’s police but also the world’s benefactor? Why is it U.S. policy to give away our wealth to all the other countries around the world? I’ll add to the discussion, why must we submit to getting savaged through unfair trade practices?
I don’t mind being charitable, but not when I have to mortgage my grandchildren’s future to do it. And I prefer to do it according to my principles and ethics — not those of leftist drones in the globalist apparatus (like the recently deceased USAID).
Trump isn’t creating a trade war; he is joining the one already in progress. And it’s about time someone did.
Stocks are a long game. So are Trump’s tariff moves. Spare me the hysterics, and let’s go shopping for investment bargains!
Let Trump cook. He knows what he’s doing.
Author’s note: I hope you enjoyed this analysis of the current political drama. The Trump era is anything but boring! After decades of establishment rule, the president’s vision can seem chaotic, but his instincts are true. Join the PJ Media VIP club to access all of our in-depth analysis as we live through this historic period of American history together. Sign up here and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your annual membership — that’s less than $20 for a year of ad-free, full access to our site, writers, and — my favorite — our vibrant community of brilliant commenters. Thank you so much for supporting our work!
