The Tariff Reckoning: America’s Economic Resolve in Trump’s Second Act – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

Two months into Donald Trump’s second term as President of the United States, sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025, the nation finds itself at a pivotal crossroads. Tariffs, once a lightning rod of his first administration, have roared back into the spotlight with a vigor that demands our attention. Yet, the narrative peddled by much of the mainstream media — those self-appointed guardians of public perception — remains stubbornly fixated on the “Trump Tariffs” moniker, a reductive tag that obscures a profound truth.

These are not the erratic decrees of a single man but the deliberate assertions of a sovereign republic, retooled in 2025 to confront a world where economic might is national security. As conservatives, we must reject this personalization and embrace a broader vision: tariffs as a collective American stand, not a presidential vanity project. In this op-ed, penned for the discerning readers of The American Spectator, I argue that Trump’s renewed tariff push reflects a maturing economic nationalism — one that conservatives should champion, refine, and wield to restore America’s industrial soul. (RELATED: Geoeconomics in the Service of Geopolitics)

Since reclaiming the White House, Trump has wasted no time. On Feb. 1, 2025, he signed Executive Order 14195, imposing a 10 percent tariff on all Chinese imports, effective Feb. 4, citing a “national emergency” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). A week later, on Feb. 10, he escalated the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, raising aluminum duties from 10 percent to 25 percent and scrapping exemptions for allies like Canada and the EU, effective March 12.

By March 4, he slapped 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods (with a 10 percent carve-out for Canadian energy), tying them to border security and fentanyl crackdowns. Posts on X buzz with reactions: farmers lament export losses, steelworkers cheer revived plants.

The Tax Foundation estimates these moves could shave 0.2 percent off long-run GDP while hiking consumer costs — washing machines, already up 12 percent in 2019 according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), might climb again. Yet, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) reports China’s IP theft still drains $50 billion annually from U.S. firms, and Census Bureau data show Vietnam’s imports have surged 40 percent since 2018 as trade reroutes. This is no mere encore of 2018; it’s a bolder gambit.

The media, predictably, doubles down on “Trump Tariffs,” a phrase as catchy as it is corrosive. CNN warns of “Trump’s trade war redux”; the New York Times frets over “Trump’s economic chaos.” This is the “Caesar Fallacy” — my term for the press’s obsession with pinning national policy on one man’s chest, as if Trump alone dreamt up tariffs over a late-night Big Mac.

In truth, these measures flow from a deep well of American resolve, tapped by laws like Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act and Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act — statutes predating Trump’s political career by decades. The Commerce Department’s 270-day probes and USTR’s 200-page dossiers aren’t Trump’s doodles; they’re the work of a system conservatives revere: lawful, deliberate, institutional.

For conservatives, this should resonate. We prize sovereignty — over borders, markets, and destiny. Tariffs, wielded wisely, are a shield for that sovereignty, not a Trumpian ego trip. When steel jobs rose by 8,000 in 2019 according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, it wasn’t Trump waving a wand; it was America countering China’s subsidized dumping, which the World Trade Organization pegs at over $100 billion yearly. (RELATED: Tariffs: The Sword of Sovereignty)

When soybean exports to China cratered 50 percent from 2017 to 2019 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, costing farmers $28 billion in bailouts, it wasn’t Trump’s solo blunder. It was Beijing’s retaliation against a U.S. strategy to claw back leverage. Today, as Biden’s 100 percent levies on Chinese EVs from May 2024 linger, and Trump’s 25 percent steel tariffs bite, we see continuity, not caprice — a bipartisan awakening to globalization’s toll.

Yet, the “Caesar Fallacy” blinds us to this. It lets Congress — complicit in ceding tariff powers since the 1930s — skulk in the shadows. Recall 2019: Senator Mike Lee’s bid to rein in Trump’s authority flopped; most lawmakers stayed mute. Now, as Trump invokes IEEPA for Canada and Mexico, where’s the oversight? The media’s Trump-centric lens gives them a pass, framing tariffs as a one-man circus. Conservatives should demand better. Tariffs are a national tool, not a presidential toy — our Constitution vests trade power in Congress, not a tweeting Caesar. (RELATED: Tariffs: The Hammer America Keeps Using)

This distortion wounds us threefold.

First, it misleads the public. Social media posts from 2025 echo 2018: “Trump’s tariffs gutted my crops,” posted @MidwestGrower; “Trump’s tariffs saved my mill,” wrote @OhioSteel. Fair sentiments — but they miss the forest. The real story is America wrestling China’s 80 percent rare-earth grip and a hollowed manufacturing base (13 million jobs, stagnant since 2010).

Second, it dodges accountability. If tariffs falter — say, the Peterson Institute’s $1,200-per-household cost estimate holds — Trump’s the fall guy; if they succeed, he’s the hero. The bureaucrats, lobbyists, and senators who shaped them? Invisible. Third, it weakens us abroad. Canada’s Trudeau rails at “Trump’s bullying”; China’s Xinhua news agency mocks “Trump’s folly.” Call them “U.S. Tariffs,” and foes face a united front, not a lone cowboy.

Numbers sharpen the picture. The Tax Foundation’s 142,000 net job losses from 2020 tariffs sting, but steel’s 8,000 gains hint at targeted wins. Consumer prices? Up — 12 percent for washing machines report NBER, $800 annually per family according to Peterson. Yet, Biden kept 90 percent of Trump’s China tariffs according to USTR, and Trump’s 2025 steel push aims for 80 percent domestic capacity reports the Commerce Department. This isn’t chaos; it’s a nation doubling down against a China that’s tripled rare-earth exports since 2010 according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The media’s myopic “Trump” fixation misses this epic shift.

Balance compels candor: Trump fuels the fire. His March 4 tariff salvo on Canada and Mexico — 25 percent unless they curb fentanyl and migrants — reeks of his off-the-cuff style. His “trade wars are easy” bravado (2018, redux 2025) ignores the pain: farmers still smart from 2019; manufacturing’s revival lags automation’s march (BLS). X lights up with his March 12 steel tariff boast: “America’s back!” He hands the press their script. But conservatives must see past the bluster. Biden’s EV tariffs and Trump’s steel redux prove tariffs outlast him — they’re America’s recalibration, not his trademark.

Where to? Trump’s tariff blitz could deepen. Social media whispers of a 60 percent China levy by summer 2025; reciprocal tariffs loom by August (the Department of Commerce deadline). The “Caesar Fallacy” will persist — the media thrives on it. By 2030, we might see “Vance Tariffs” or “Haley Taxes” if new leaders rise. But this myopia risks ruin.

If tariffs tank GDP — say, 1.3 percent with a 20 percent universal rate (the Tax Foundation’s prediction) — one face takes the blame; if they curb China’s edge, one gets the crown. Trust in institutions, already frail based on a Gallup 2024 poll, frays more. Globally, rivals like China — whose 15 percent coal tariff response hit U.S. exports in February 2025 — exploit our disarray.

The fix? Rename them “U.S. Tariffs.” Force the debate: Are we bolstering steel or burdening farms? Thwarting Beijing or nursing inefficiency? X (formerly Twitter) shows a spark — #USTariffsNotTrumps flickered in February 2025, drowned by the partisan din. Conservatives must fan it. Not for Trump, but for the republic. We’re not a reality show — we’re a nation clawing back its spine.

Astute readers know the stakes: a people adrift on elite spin, yearning for truth. The “Trump Tariffs” trope isn’t just lazy — it’s a betrayal of that yearning. Tariffs are ours — imperfect, fierce, American. Two months into 2025, Trump’s moves signal resolve, not recklessness. Conservatives must seize this moment, strip the mask, and fight the real fight: a republic renewed, not a Caesar enthroned.

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