Pat Buchanan has sung the praises of the use of tariffs for decades. Ever since the auto workers was trying to win over in his first Presidential Primary asked him why he drove a BMW instead of an American car. He hit the history books again and learned what the Founding Fathers and the patriots of the 19th century knew. Tariffs are a powerful and often necessary tool in a nation’s diplomatic kit to keep foreign interests at bay.
That runs counter to the teaching of my heroes Drs. Sowell and Williams, but I think Pat’s right that there are times when a nation needs to resort to tariffs and we are in those times.
Well I guess you need a history lesson too. The primary use of tariffs in the 19th and early 20th century was revenue generation and protection of industry. Since it is a consumption tax this makes tariffs superior to income taxes in every way. .