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  • 2018-06-08 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Ronald Reagan Warn Against 'Demagogues' Willing to Declare a Trade War Against America's Friends? (en)
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  • In June 2018, President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union (EU), citing trade imbalances he said harm U.S. companies, endanger American workers' jobs, and threaten to impair the national security of the United States. The move prompted swift opposition at home, including by some in the president's own party who warned of the deleterious effects of a trade war between the U.S. and its allies. Within days of Trump's announcement, Canada, Mexico, and the EU vowed retaliatory tariffs on American products. Among the rhetorical weapons brandished by opponents of the tariffs was a quote attributed to President Ronald Reagan, a conservative icon, inveighing against trade protectionism and labeling those who defended instigating trade wars with friendly countries demagogues: Our search for the provenance of the quote led us to a radio address delivered by Reagan (one of his last as president) on 26 November 1988. In it, he referred to protectionism as a cheap form of nationalism and told Americans that [o]ur peaceful trading partners are not our enemies; they are our allies. This is a partial transcript: I, like you, recognize the inescapable conclusion that all of history has taught, he told a gathering of business and trade leaders in 1985. The freer the flow of world trade, the stronger the tides for human progress and peace among nations. That having been said, Reagan's view was more subtle than it appears at first glance. Like Trump, he recognized and affirmed that free and fair trade among nations requires a commitment by all parties to abide by the rules: Nor was Reagan averse to mild protectionist gestures when the political environment required them. As Daniel Griswold, a former director of trade policy studies at the Cato Institute, wrote in 2004: Despite their overlapping concerns about the threat posed by unfair trade practices, one of the main things that set Reagan's modus operandi apart from Trump's was the former's refusal to engage in trade war brinkmanship as a negotiating tool. History will decide which is the more fruitful approach. (en)
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