Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. That is all the media talks about these days, gleeful to see President Trump’s popularity take a hit as he imposes taxes on imports.

Nothing else gets the same attention. Inflation, unemployment claims moving lower? Wait ’til tariffs kick in, chants the chorus. Oil prices down? Manufacturing increasing? Money coming in from overseas? But those tariffs…

Given the blowback, why is Trump pushing so hard to raise the fees paid on U.S. imports?

First, because he thinks the U.S. has been treated unfairly over time by our trading partners. Second, because he wants higher tariff revenues to help offset promised tax cuts. And third — most important — because he wants to make it more attractive for companies to manufacture in the U.S.

It would be hard for anyone, even Democrats, to oppose those ambitions. But oppose them they do.

Let’s start with the president wanting to level the trade playing field. Lost in the hysteria about a “trade war” is that many countries have already waged war against the U.S. — and won.

Take Canada, the “nice” neighbor to our north. While Ottawa threatened to cut off natural gas supplies to New York and other states (which didn't seem very nice), little has been said about the tariffs it imposes on American-made cheese, for example, which, above a certain quota, can reach 245 percent. As it happens, U.S. producers have not breached that level, but that’s because, according to the International Dairy Foods Association, “Canada has erected various protectionist measures that fly in the face of their trade obligations made under USMCA.” That charge of cheating on the trade deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada is backed up by a USMCA dispute panel in 2022 that found........

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