Source: EconLog
by Janet Bufton
“Someone asked recently what would change as a result of the world being plunged into a trade war by the Rose Garden tariffs. I quipped that either Adam Smith would be proved wrong or we’d all get poorer. (This is also true of the scaled-back tariffs, which still leave American tariffs higher than they’ve been in a century.) In response, as sometimes happens, they brought up Adam Smith’s arguments for tariffs. These arguments come from Book 4, Chapter 2 of Wealth of Nations. They’re a red herring, as we’ll see. But let’s look at how they apply.” (04/10/25)