To the Editor:
The irony of imposing tariffs: always sounds like a good way to benefit the populace. Realistically tariffs are a terrible idea and have never worked as proposed. Two dynamics are repeatedly shown to be operative. Firstly – tariffs invariably cause other parties of the procedure to invoke their own tariff versions. Trade ceases thereby throwing the economy into a tailspin. The second is that the lack of trade collapses markets. Witness effects of Smoot Hawley and resultant Great Depression or more pertinently post Civil War Republicans invoked a 600% tariff on imported salt. The New England fishing market collapsed.
Philip Rogers, Cape May
