Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy
“A May 29 article in the IMF’s F&D Magazine argues in favor of using U.S. tariffs as a policy tool. It begins by questioning the argument for free trade, claiming that economists have based U.S. and global trade policy on theoretical models rather than empirical evidence: ‘Tariffs were not tried and found wanting but rejected by au courant economic models and left untried. Policymakers, scared of challenging the elite consensus derived from such models, closed off the universe of options and strategies to solve America’s challenges.’ However, in the U.S. there is an extensive history of trying to use tariffs strategically, especially in the late 1800s through the mid-1900s.” (07/10/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/a-brief-history-of-strategic-tariffs-in-the-u-s