Scott Lincicome, the vice president of general economics and trade at the Cato Institute, is a Post Opinions contributor.
For most of the past century, politics has helped tariffs endure in Washington despite a pile of research arguing against them. Trade has long ranked near the bottom of American voters’ policy priorities because the issue is complicated and counterintuitive — and because relatively few Americans’ livelihoods depend on the import-export business. Advocacy is also a one-sided affair: The benefits of trade barriers motivate the few protected producers who gain, while the costs are spread too thin for millions of payers to notice. Until now.
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