Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome
“We are still operating under many of the trade policies Trump set during his first term. After campaigning in 2020 against the broad-based and damaging tariffs Trump imposed, President Biden maintained and even expanded U.S. trade restrictions and other forms of economic nationalism. The motivation for such consistency, however, was in large part political: It was an open secret in Washington that Biden’s advisors, needing ‘Rust Belt’ votes to win reelection and facing a vocally protectionist opponent in Trump, viewed economic nationalism as the only viable approach. Now unburdened by such concerns and facing the reality of a failed political strategy, Biden has a short time to remedy past policy errors and improve the United States’[s] economic and geopolitical prospects before Trump takes office.” (11/21/24)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/biden-has-small-window-make-big-fixes-us-trade-policy