Are the Tariffs Implemented by the Trump Administration Protectionist Measures? -

During Donald Trump's first presidency, a trade war broke out between the world's two largest economies and continued throughout his term. The question was raised as to who benefited in concrete terms from this trade war. The stakes were high; the administrations of George Bush and Barack Obama should have been asked how to conduct a fair-trade war against their economic rival. If the question were asked, they would probably answer that recourse should be sought to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to force the adversary to respect trade rights while relying on anti-dumping, countervailing duties, and more.

They could also take protective measures in favor of the affected sector(s) such as certification, the adoption of penalties, subsidies, the increase of customs duties, and so on, as was done with the steel industry; in fact, it boils down to solving international trade issues to protect their businesses and consumers against unfair trade practices of partners. President Trump did not see things that way, because faced with China and its dizzying economic growth, the United States should accelerate, so he flouted certain rules of the game by seeking to weaken his economic rival in implementing very high tariffs.

However, it seemed that President Trump's actions did not bring the expected results, because Chinese products did not stop clogging up ports and warehouses in the United States. In such cases, who are the beneficiaries and the price payers? We cannot ignore the need to find a formula to thwart the Chinese commercial invader. President Trump lost power to his rival Joe Biden, who also has no choice but to continue maintaining the tariffs put in place by his predecessor, but with more diplomacy. As Mr. Trump regained power, he was quick to restart his policy of curbing the mass entry of Chinese products into the American market.

Along these same lines, let's look at the topic in its clear form: Are the measures taken by President Trump to impose new tariffs on products from China, Canada, Mexico, and other countries protectionist? Economic protectionism is the set of measures taken by a government to protect its domestic market against international trade competition and which, in other words, constitute trade barriers. Therefore, protectionism is an effective trade protection tool if it is done within standards. The United States is facing a growing public debt, which is $35.46 trillion¹ in 2024, and which deserves to be stopped and lowered to avoid harm; in addition, the country has been projecting a trade deficit for years, which is $918.4 billion2 in 2024, and which also deserves to be taken into consideration.

Source: fiscaldata.treasury.gov

Other problems could be raised, but let's stick to these two. For some, compensating for a trade deficit is enough to adjust import fees upwards, which is completely absurd, because the trade balance is based on a state's production and competitive capacity. Therefore, applying high customs tariffs on imports will serve no purpose; there will always be this imbalance if things are not done according to standards. Without going into details about patents, research, etc., China is unbeatable in the field of electric cars, batteries, etc., and has become in such a short time a world leader in terms of artificial intelligence and technology. Instead of threatening the global supply chain with high tariffs here and there on all products, the Donald Trump administration should review things.

The actions that are being taken will further increase the inflation rate and it is the middle class that will pay the price. This policy can worsen the situation, because the countries targeted by these measures will retaliate, and nationals may call for boycotts of opposing products, etc. Americans cannot tell themselves that they will reduce their consumption, because quite naturally they are big consumers, and this is the enormous potential of the American market. So, other alternatives can be considered as was done with Obama in the automobile, information and communication technology (ICT) sectors, to name but a few. Biden, for his part, who saw the obsolescence of his country's infrastructures, called on his supporters to support his famous "Build Back Better" plan in order to restore his country to its former freshness.

The Consumer Price Index to date (US CPI Feb 2025) has seen an increase of 0.2%³, so while we are watching things under the microscope, we are still waiting a little while to see the results. Today, no one knows if the measures undertaken by the Donald Trump administration are to repatriate American companies or to remedy the trade imbalance or to reduce the American public debt or to undo the American free trade agreements or to make people rich, etc., the only thing that is known is that uncontrollable protectionist measures will in no way benefit consumers.