By Mahdi Amirisefat
US President Donald Trump has just officially announced steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Back in March, the US President asserted that trade wars are easy to win tweeting, “when a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win.”
“When we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore – we win big. It’s easy!”
In the previous section I had a brief discussion about the theoretical implications and basis of economic protectionism under the pretext of advocating and backing domestic production, regardless of the expenses it imposes on the national economy and the livelihoods of citizens. When such policies are pursued broadly and aggressively they are labeled as “autarky.” The US is yet far from becoming an autarky, but pursuing protectionist policies by a country that…