The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Donald Trump’s Trade Parity ‘Golden Age’ Explained

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

Adversaries and allies alike have been ripping off the United States with “asymmetrical tariffs” for decades. Now, Trump is fighting back. “Whatever a particular country tariffs us, we reciprocate and just mirror image them. In other words, it’s their choice, not ours,” VDH says. On this edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Victor Davis Hanson explains the history behind tariffs and how other countries have taken advantage of America’s no-tariff policy for years. “It was all predicated in the postwar period. We were so affluent, so powerful—Europe, China, Russia were in shambles—that we had to take up the burdens of reviving the economy by taking great trade deficits,” Victor Davis Hanson says. We can’t afford to remain neutral in the trade war that’s been happening for decades. “If tariffs are so destructive of their economies, why is China booming?” Victor Davis Hanson asks. If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273 He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 3rd, Donald Trump announced it as Liberation Day. By that he meant we were going to be liberated from asymmetrical tariffs of the last 50 years. And it was going to inaugurate a new, what he called, golden age of trade parity. And yet the world seemed to erupt in anger. It was very strange, which brings up another question. Are our tariffs really tariffs? That is, were they preemptive? Were they punitive?

No. They're almost leveled on autopilot. Whatever a particular country tariffs us, we reciprocate and just mirror image them. In other words, it's their choice, not ours. Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. April 3rd, Donald Trump announced it as Liberation Day, and by that he meant we were going to be liberated from asymmetrical tariffs of the last 50 years, and it was going to inauguration.

and knew what he called golden age of trade parity, greater investment in the United States, but mostly greater job opportunities and higher paying jobs for Americans. And yet the world seemed to erupt in anger. It was very strange. Even people on the libertarian right and, of course, the left were very angry. Wall Street Journal pillory Donald Trump. But here's my question. China has prohibitive tariffs.

So does Vietnam. So does Mexico. So does Europe. So do a lot of countries. So does India. But if tariffs are so destructive of their economies, why is China booming? How did India become a economic powerhouse when it has these exorbitant tariffs on American imports? How did Vietnam, of all places, become such a different country, even though it has these prohibitive tariff. Why isn't Germany before its energy problems? Why wasn't it a wreck? It's got tariffs on almost everything that we send them. How is the EU even functioning with these tariffs? I thought tariffs destroyed an economy, but they seemed to like them, and they're angry that they're no longer asymmetrical. Apparently, our people who are tariffing us think tariffs improve their

economy. Maybe they're right. I don't know. second thing is why would you get angry at the person who is reacting to the asymmetrical tariff and not the people who inaugurated the tariff? Why is Canada mad at us when it's running a $63 billion surplus and it has tariffs on some American products at 250 percent? Doesn't it seem like the people who started this asymmetrical, if I could use the word trade war, should be the culpable people, not the people who are reluctantly reacting to it? Sort of like Ukraine and Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine. Do we blame Ukraine for defending itself and trying to reciprocate? No, we don't. We don't blame America because it finally woke up and said, whatever they

tariff us, we're going to tariff them. Which brings up another question. Are our tariffs, really tariffs? That is, were they preemptive? Were they leveled against countries that had no tariffs against us? Were they punitive? No. They're almost leveled on autopilot. Whatever a particular country tariffs us, we reciprocate and just mirror image them. At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and expansion advice, and we can talk your ear-off about transferring your business when the time comes. At Desjardin Business, we speak the same language you do.

Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk. Business. They go off anytime that country says, you know, it was a mistake. We're sorry. You're an ally.

You're a neutral. We're not going to tariff this American product. And we say, fine. then the autopilot ceases and the automatic tariff ends. In other words, it's their choice, not ours. We're just reacting to what they did, not what we did. A couple of other questions that I've had. We haven't run a trade surplus since 1975, 50 years.

So it wasn't suddenly we woke up and said, it's unfair. We want commercial justice. No, we've been watching this happen for 50 years it's been going on. And no president or no administration, no Congress in the past has done anything about it, done anything about what? Leveling tariffs on our products that we don't level on theirs. It was all predicated in the post-war period. We were so affluent, so powerful.

Europe, China, Russia was in shambles that we had to do. take up the burdens of reviving the economy by taking great trade deficits. 50 years later, we have been deindustrialized. And the countries who did this to us by these unfair and asymmetrical tariffs did not fall apart. They did not self-destruct. They apparently thought it was in their self-interest. And if anybody calibrates the recent GDP growth of India or Taiwan or South Korea or Japan, they seem to have some logic to it. There's a final irony. The people who are warning us most vehemently about this tariff, quote, the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930. But remember something. That came after the onset of the Depression, after the stock market crashed in 1929. That law was

not passed until 1930. It was not really implemented to 31. And here's the the other thing that they were conveniently not reminded of, we were running a surplus. That was a preemptive, punitive tariff on our part against other countries. We had a trade surplus, and it was not 10 or 20%. Some of the tariffs were 40 and 50%. And again, it happened after the collapse of the stock market. In conclusion, don't you find it very ironic that Wall Street is blaming the Trump tariffs for heading us into a recession, if not depression,

when the only great depression we've ever had was not caused by tariffs, but by Wall Street. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansan.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition.

You know.