Next we must tackle the barrage of non-tariff weapons used to strangle American exports
By Peter Navarro | FT | April 7, 2025
OPINION:
The international trade system is broken — and Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff doctrine will fix it. This long-overdue restructuring will make both the US and global economies more resilient and prosperous by restoring fairness and balance to a system rigged against America.
For decades, under the biased rules of the World Trade Organization, the US has faced systematically higher tariffs from its major trading partners and far more punitive non-tariff barriers.
The result is a national emergency that threatens both our economic prosperity and national security. At the heart of this crisis is a trade deficit in goods that has ballooned to more than $1tn annually. The economic models of free trade that predict chronic trade imbalances will always be eliminated through price adjustments via exchange rates are dead wrong.