President Trump says ‘trade wars are good,’ but history tells a very different story.
- Lecturer in History, University of Exeter
May’s government is evoking arguments made by the early 20th-century tariff reform campaign of Joseph Chamberlain.
In 1872, free traders split with the young Republican Party, ran a third-party candidate against Ulysses S. Grant and sparked 100 years of GOP protectionism. Is history repeating itself?
A President Trump or Sanders would be likely to pursue protectionist trade policies such as higher tariffs. History suggests such policies could lead to a trade war, with painful consequences.
The leading Republican candidate may seem out of step with his party’s platform when he lambasts free trade, but in fact the GOP has promoted protectionism for most of its history.
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