Harris Should Break With Biden, Trump on Trade

Trade wars of last two administrations have not paid off.

If Vice President Kamala Harris is elected the 47th U.S. president, she would inherit a trade war started by former President Donald Trump and continued by President Joe Biden. But she’d also have the chance to end it.

Throughout 2018 and 2019, then-President Trump instigated a trade war by imposing tariffs on imports of washing machines, solar panels, steel, aluminum and billions of dollars’ worth of consumer, intermediate and capital goods from China. His tariffs amounted to a taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. increase of $80 billion a year and hit some $380 billion of U.S. imports, according to the Tax Foundation.

Harris’ rhetoric when running for the 2020 Democratic nomination shows she has a better grasp of the economics of tariffs than the 45th president, from proclaiming she is no “protectionist Democrat” to railing against “Trump’s trade tax” that was “taxing American consumers.”