The hypocrisy of Trump’s tariff critics

Import taxes may not be the answer – but early market jitters should never be the yardstick for judging the success of a policy

Paul Embery is one of the most interesting, insightful and original voices to have emerged in British journalism for some time — Douglas Murray

When I was a boy, I occasionally played an arcade video game called Defender – a sort of shoot-‘em-up affair in which the player, controlling a spaceship, must defeat an army of invading aliens.

One of the tools in the player’s armoury was the ‘hyperspace’ button. It was intended for use only when caught in a serious bind. Press it, and the spaceship would disappear and then suddenly rematerialise at some random location.

The gamble would often pay off, with the craft popping up in a more advantageous position. But sometimes it would be deposited right in amongst a posse of the blighters it was fighting, in which case destruction was imminent.

Across the pond, Donald J Trump has just pressed the ‘hyperspace’ button. Grappling with an economy that has long been in the doldrums, and recognising that orthodox remedies have failed, and will probably go on failing, he decided to gamble. He has chosen to dissolve the US economy as it is and have it rematerialise some place else.