The Real Victims of Trump's Trade Debacle Rarely Make Headlines

This week keeps giving me foggy flashbacks to Economics 101: Tariffs are a tax placed on imported goods from foreign countries and paid by consumers. They are notorious for increasing inflation and disproportionately hurting those who can least afford it, particularly working class and low-income folks.

Following President Donald Trump’s so-called Liberation Day, on which he imposed hefty tariffs on goods from nearly every country around the world, we saw stock markets around the world plummet, resulting in over $11 trillion in lost wealth. After growing pressure, Trump then caved, temporarily reducing these tariffs for 90 days on countries other than China.

In these tumultuous moments, I’m tempted to worry about my own retirement savings — a threat that is especially acute for those nearing retirement. These are real fears. Yet, as Christians, we also must pay attention to those who will feel the most severe impacts of this economic malpractice. And the sad truth is that these reckless tariffs will be especially harmful for people who don’t even have a 401(k), let alone any way to seek redress for U.S. government policies likely to increase inflation and spark a recession.

While tariffs don’t show up in scripture, the biblical prophets regularly decried unjust taxation and economic exploitation. Jesus’ most dramatic public action took place in the temple when, in an act of moral anger, he overturned the tables of the money changers because they were defiling the temple and exploiting the people. In his letter to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul called on the church to “show equal concern for each other” (1 Corinthians 12). That concern should never end at our borders.

Yet the recent tariff debacle shows an utter lack of concern for those with the fewest economic resources, both here in the U.S. and around the world. Trump’s tariff plans are rooted in his fixation that the U.S., which imports more goods than it exports, must be getting a bad deal from other countries — an idea economists have pointed out just isn’t true. As a result, the tariffs were set to fall heavily on countries Trump considered the “worst offenders,” especially low- and middle-income countries including Cambodia, Bangladesh, Laos, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Libya. Many of these nations are small, heavily indebted to global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, and already impacted by the sudden slashing of U.S. foreign aid. They will suddenly find it much harder to export goods such as garments to the United States, depriving workers and their families of a source of income that can often mean a pathway out of extreme poverty. While many of the strongest and wealthiest economies such as China and the European Union can impose retaliatory tariffs, low- and middle-income countries have much less leverage and will now have to negotiate better terms. 

Trump’s tariffs are ostensibly designed to boost manufacturing jobs in the United States by making it less attractive for companies to manufacture goods overseas for sale in the United States. Yet here in the U.S., falling stock prices reflect real and well-founded fears that tariffs will raise prices on a wide variety of goods for U.S. consumers, exacerbating inflation at a time when it’s already squeezing working families, putting U.S. companies out of business, putting workers out of jobs, and putting the economy into a recession. And as I’ve written before, inflation, by definition, falls hardest on those with the least to spare, making it an issue of Christian concern.

All this isn’t to say that our global economic system was perfect before these tariffs were imposed — far from it. The standard of living in the U.S. should not depend on our ability to buy cheap goods often manufactured under deplorable conditions on the other side of the world. We must work to build a fairer global economy that prioritizes human rights, combats rampant inequality, protects freedom, and reverses our climate crisis. Nor is this to say that tariffs are never justified, as long as they are applied in an extremely targeted and responsible fashion. But Trump’s tariffs serve none of these worthy and moral goals. Instead, they have already caused serious damage to America’s global relationships and standing in the world.

Trump likened his tariffs to taking “medicine to fix something.” But if we stick with that metaphor, some people can handle the side effects of his “medicine” more than others, as a result of economic inequality in the U.S. and around the world. In the short term, the tariffs seem likely to cause much more harm than good for the most vulnerable. In the longer term, they represent an utterly quixotic attempt to undo globalization itself. It feels as though Trump really does believe that the United States can simply go it alone. From an economic, social, environmental, and national security perspective, that’s just not how anything works. Human beings have never been more globally connected and interdependent than we are today, across all political borders and other lines of division. As a Christian, I believe that’s a very good thing because it contributes to a safer and more prosperous world. For God so loved the world — not the United States — that he gave his only begotten son. Making our life on earth look more like the kingdom that God intends for God’s children likewise transcends every human border.

If you’re concerned about the impact these tariffs are having and want a tangible way to take action, you can voice your support for legislation by a bipartisan group of senators that would require Congress to approve tariffs within 60 days of their imposition. Though the bill faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives — and Trump has vowed to veto it if it reaches his desk — there are signs of growing support, even among the president’s typical supporters. This week the editors of the conservative National Review urged Congress to take back the power it has ceded to Trump, calling it “preposterous that a single person could enjoy this much power over … the global economy.”

You can urge your elected leaders to reassert the checks and balances that are essential for our nation’s democracy and oppose these harmful tariffs by supporting this bill. As Christians and people of faith and conscience, let us join together in opposing these current tariffs to prevent inflicting further harm on those who are most economically vulnerable, whether here in the U.S. or in other countries around the world. God loves us all equally and requires us to do the same.