Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gestures as he attends a finance committee meeting at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, January 13, 2025.
There are plenty of Republicans in Donald Trump’s orbit who, like him, appear to regard tariffs as a magical panacea. Those in the GOP who understand that the only things you can count on tariffs to do is raise consumer costs, put downward pressure on corporate profits, and contribute to inflationary pressure will sometimes fall back on the notion that threatening or even imposing foreign trade restrictions is just a negotiating tactic.
Despite Trump’s objective affinity for trade protectionism and its effects, these Republicans insist that what he really wants to see is lower tariff rates across the board. That’s what ...