Listening to hysterical commentary from the mainstream media about President Trump’s tariff proposals, one would think his policies were in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, tariffs are as American as apple pie.
America grew rich and powerful from 1787–1962, a period of 175 years, using tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to trade to nurture domestic industry and protect high-paying manufacturing jobs.
The passage of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act in 1962 authorized the White House to reduce those tariffs in rounds of international negotiations. Such tariff reductions marked the unilateral surrender of U.S. jobs to foreign competitors, first in Japan, then later in South Asia and finally in China...
Source:dailyreckoning.com