Trump’s Tariff Disaster
Doug Irwin, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, on Trump’s trade war, the myth of protectionism, and what history teaches us about tariffs
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum examines how protectionism, once a fringe idea in U.S. politics, became central to modern Republican trade policy. He traces how President Donald Trump made tariffs a political weapon, and why these policies continue to carry political appeal despite their economic cost.
Then David is joined by the historian and trade expert Doug Irwin for a conversation about what tariffs actually do. Irwin explains how protectionist policies have repeatedly backfired in American history, why they persist, and how the U.S. abandoned the bipartisan free-trade consensus that lasted for nearly a century. The two discuss who really pays for tariffs, why tariffs rarely achieve their stated goals, and what it would take to rebuild political support for open markets.
David Frum: Hello, and welcome back to The David Frum Show. I’m David Frum, a staff writer at The Atlantic. My guest today will be Douglas Irwin, who teaches at Dartmouth College and is, in my opinion, America’s leading expert on the history of trade and tariffs in this country. We’ll be talking directly about many of the myths that are offered by protectionists to justify trade restrictions, tariffs. We’ll be looking at episodes from American economic history and refuting some of the stories that the protectionists tell to justify their otherwise obviously self-harming policies.
