OpEd: Tariffs Make Governments Bigger & Consumers Smaller

Some bad ideas, despite centuries of consistently negative consequences, come back to haunt the human race over and over again. The economic warfare of “protective” tariffs is one such bad idea that belongs in the dustbin of history, yet incoming president Donald Trump has given it a veneer of patriotic polish, while trotting out all the tired pro-tariff cliches that have been proven so wrong for so long.

When a bad idea appears to have eternal life, you can bet its life support is coming from two major factors: (1) widely accepted myth and (2) powerful special interests.

The tariff myths are...