Trump’s First-Term Tariffs Crushed US Manufacturing

Alan Reynolds

Attorney Robert Lighthizer, President Trump’s US Trade Representative in his first term, shares considerable responsibility for the stunning drop in manufacturing output and jobs soon after August 2018, when Trump’s first trade war began in earnest.

Trump’s first year, 2017, ended on a promising note with a bold reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and a minor trim of the top personal rate to 37%. The prospect of growth-friendly taxation was already anticipated in the last quarter of 2017...