President Trump is launching a tariff blitz on the world for one reason: China.
China’s economy is built on a system that distorts free trade.
Determined to grow at any cost, China has been overproducing everything. It started with roads and rail lines, then moved to apartments and mansions, and now it’s cars, refrigerators and semiconductors.
These goods are dumped on foreign markets, including in America. Trump’s tariffs may be disruptive, but they can serve a function — forcing a global realignment that is far overdue.
Since the early 2000s, China has leveraged cheap labor and lax environmental standards to flood the world with low-cost goods, displacing American industries. More than 3.5 million US jobs have been lost to China.
In 2023, a Chinese company, Ching Tai Wire and Cable, announced a new factory in Dongguan — while, one year later, Michigan’s National Standard, a leading wire manufacturer, shut down after 117 years in business.