Those arguing against the Trump tariffs are all members of the intelligentsia who earn their livings at a keyboard and/or a microphone.

No one with calloused hands who watched their families descend into despair and fentanyl as manufacturing industries fled their communities opposes what Trump is doing.

Fact.

HISTORY LESSON 

As the Trump Tariffs are taking effect, all the “smart” people keep bringing up the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 as proof that tariffs are an inevitable path to economic disaster.

Putting aside for the moment that 2025 is not 1930, if you are of a certain age you may remember the last time Smoot and Hawley were at the top of mind for America.

Remember the 1993 debate on “Larry King Live” between Ross Perot and then-VP Al Gore? (I’ll link to it in the post immediately below.)

The subject of the debate was the possible adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or “NAFTA.” NAFTA was a hot topic in the early ’90s, and like today a big feature of the policy debate revolved around tariff regimes (which NAFTA would roll back).

Al Gore was pro-NAFTA.

Ross Perot was anti-NAFTA.

Perot’s position was that NAFTA would create a “giant sucking sound” that would suck manufacturing jobs out of the USA and wreak havoc on the working class.

Gore’s position was that NAFTA would be a massive economic boon for America. In the debate, Gore constantly accused Perot of repeating the errors of the Smoot-Hawley Act, and in an act of smug mockery handed Perot a framed picture of Smoot and Hawley.

Guess what?

Perot was right. Gore was wrong. NAFTA DID create a “giant sucking sound” that sucked manufacturing jobs out of the USA and wreaked havoc on the working class.

The hollowing-out of our heavy industries started well before NAFTA, but NAFTA put the decay on warp drive, and the ruined hulks of the former industrial cities of America’s heartland owe their misery to NAFTA, Al Gore and all of the rest of the “smart” class who embraced NAFTA and made it law.

Remember this the next time some smarmy anti-Trump member of the self-appointed “elite” tosses Smoot-Hawley in your face, because the last time a smarmy self-appointed member of the “elite” brought up Smoot-Hawley, he was entirely wrong.