Whether or not you like them, tariffs work. Trump proved that last week when he threatened to start escalating tariffs on Mexico. Suddenly when faced with a president that doesn’t make false threats and knowing he would follow through and hurt them in the pocketbook, Mexico blinked and took more action to stem the flow of illegals than has been accomplished in decades.

Now for a brief history of tariffs and how we got here. I heard Rush say last week that tariffs provided the majority of the federal income prior to the institution of the personal income tax. Makes sense. Now how did we get to the present tariff argument? After WWII, the US was the only real superpower left in the world. Japan and China and Europe were devastated and so we helped rebuild Europe and Japan and provided the military power to protect them — essentially for free. Without the need to protect themselves, they repaid us by keeping US companies from competing effectively in their markets while simultaneously using government subsidies, currency manipulation and tariffs to provide constantly growing trade imbalances. First Japan and then Europe and Canada and Mexico took advantage of our generosity to disadvantage us in trade, and then Slick Willy Clinton brought China into the WTO, and the rest is history. Our manufacturing jobs went overseas and the rust belt resulted. All the neocons and globalists swooned over free trade suggesting that free trade provides the the best deal for consumers are totally full of horse excrement.

Now what we have now is not free trade. It is unfree trade. When we want to sell a car in Japan, China, Europe or Mexico we have to pay a 25% tariff but when they sell a car here they pay a 5% tariff. And Canada charges something like a 250% on dairy products from Wisconsin to protect their dairy industry. People that’s not free trade much less fair trade. The problem is that before Trump the swamp elitist ruling class on both sides of the aisle profited greatly from the status quo and didn’t care about you and me. Trump wants fair trade and a level playing field and the only way to do that, given the swamp, is by using tariffs to get people to the table to negotiate new trade deals that protect us and our industries. I hope he continues until we get that level playing field. On a level playing field no one can compete with us.