By John F. Di Leo, Opinion Contributor
We’re hearing a lot of complaints about the tariffs, and I understand that, since we all hate taxes, as we should.
Republicans especially.
Taxes are bad. Taxation is theft. All good Americans have known it since birth.
You need taxes, to an extent, but you should never “like” them.
However, one item in the discussion that’s been getting to me is the clause “even on our allies!”
“Good heavens!” the naysayers shout. “Have you seen these new tariffs? And even on our ALLIES!!!”
And that makes me ask a question:
Who the heck are our allies?
We Americans have gotten awfully comfortable using the term “ally,” haven’t we? Have you noticed that?
I can’t help but think of a common theme, in a certain type of movie – several types of movies, in fact – where you see some guy being arrested, or trying to sneak into a movie for free, or trying to avoid paying full price for an appliance, and the guy says to the arresting officer, or the ticket-taker or cashier, “Come on, little buddy, we’ve known each other for ten years; we went to school together, graduated together, we should take care of each other, right?”
And the “little buddy” silently thinks to himself, while trying to remain calm, “Yeah, we certainly have known each other since we were kids. And you used to stuff me in the locker, or you looked the other way while your friends did – or you cheated off my tests in class, or broke the teacher’s lamp and tried to frame my friends. Yeah, you bet I remember. Some buddy you are.”
So we should ask ourselves, seriously: Might that be happening today?
Who are America’s allies today, really?
Are our allies all those countries that won’t allow American cars on their streets? The countries that won’t allow the importation of American beef, pork, or chicken? The countries that erect costly trade barriers to keep our exports off their store shelves? The countries that won’t pay a penny for defense but expect America to protect their borders with our own military bases, for free, funded by the American taxpayer?
I’m not a “fan” of tariffs, by any means. I’ve been in the import-export business, in one way or another, for over half a century, and I have ridiculed the peculiarities of the tariff schedules my whole life, in countless thousands of hours of training seminars to interested audience (full disclosure, I am a Customs Broker and Trade Compliance trainer by profession, among other things).
So I certainly don’t “like” the idea of using tariffs as a cudgel.
But there aren’t all that many cudgels within reach, you see, and President Trump is right in declaring that we need to wield one.
So, what other cudgel would you prefer? Banning their products from our shores outright, as many of them so often do to ours? Banning them from spending their dollars in other ways, such as investment in our market, to force them to use their excess dollars to buy our goods?
The problem is, all the other available cudgels have their drawbacks too.
The long slow decline of Western (not just American) manufacturing simply must be reversed. And the rapid rise of Mainland China as the dominant manufacturing hub of the world must be stopped; of all the countries on earth to take on such a role, China is the worst choice, by far. President Trump is right to recognize this problem and to commit to addressing it at last.
So – personally speaking – I do wish there were another way, as we all do. But this method has the potential, at least, to accomplish the most, and to do so the most quickly.
Does it hurt, to realize that some true friends are caught up in this? Yes indeed. I hate seeing Israel, Argentina and Hungary being stuck in the same tough negotiations as real protectionist abusers like China and the European Union.
But leaving out our true friends would have made them conspicuous by their absence, and might have been no favor to them either, on the world scene.
So I, for one, am staying calm, and watching the negotiations unfold, with the expectation that President Trump, Secretary Marco Rubio, and the rest of our negotiating team will accomplish a good deal for us and for the world, in the weeks and months to come.
Copyright 2025 John F. Di Leo
