JOE DEHN FOR CONGRESS

Tariffs hurt American consumers. Goods produced in other countries become more expensive. Even when similar products are made in the United States, in the long run those alternatives will become more expensive too, because of the reduced competition from imported products.

Tariffs hurt American businesses. Politicians often justify tariffs as a way to "protect" domestic industry, and they can temporarily disadvantage foreign competition, but in the long run domestic industries cannot be saved this way. There are real, practical reasons why some foreign products can be made less expensively, ranging from availability of resources to the efficiency of factories. If domestic producers aren't prodded by competition to improve, they will eventually end up going out of business entirely. Meanwhile, other American businesses and industries are hurt when other countries retaliate by increasing their own tariffs on goods imported from the United States.

Tariffs can't "protect" American jobs, either. The kinds of jobs that politicians typically claim they are "protecting" by imposing tariffs are going away all over the world. Some other countries have been able to operate factories more cheaply in the past because they pay their workers less, but as those countries become more prosperous that advatage is going away and those countries are now automating their factories. The only way that American factories will be able to compete is to automate as well, leaving no jobs of that type here in the United States either.

Threatening and varying tariffs creates uncertainty that makes the whole economy less efficient. Companies that make products can't plan properly. Companies that transport and distribute products can't plan properly. Investors can't make good decisions about where to invest. This creates additional damage beyond the taxation itself.

Threatening otherwise friendly countries with tariffs is both insulting and enonomically damaging to the people of those countries. Historically the United States has been a promoter of economic cooperation, and free trade is key to improving the well-being of both Americans and the people of those countries who are supposed to be our friends and allies.

Not only is Donald Trump creating both short and long term economic damage by threatening and imposing tariffs, but no president should even have the power to do either. Stopping Trump is not enough -- we need permanent solutions to this problem. Tariffs are taxes and the power to tax is assigned by the Constitution to Congress. The problem is that Congress has abdicated its responsibility in this area.

I propose the following four policies, which ideally would all be adopted but which in any combination would help improve the situation:

• Separation of Powers Policy: The repeal of all laws that delegate to the President or any executive branch agency the authority to impose tariffs, so that all tariffs must be explicitly approved by Congress.
• Rollback Policy: Legislation to immediately and unilaterally reduce all tariffs to no higher than they were in 2024.
• Reciprocal Tariff Policy: Legislation to automatically reduce any tariff on any products from any country to the level that country imposes on similar products being imported from the United States.
• Shared Prosperity Policy: Legislation directing executive branch agencies to give priority to the establishment, and the United States joining, zero-tariff free-trade zones with any and all countries with which we otherwise have friendly relations, starting with Canada and Mexico.