Editors at National Review Online critique President Trump’s approach toward tariffs.

After months of uncertainty, the White House has finally announced tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. The uncertainty since the election and especially the lack of clear communication in the past several days have caused apprehension in the stock market, which is likely part of the reason why these measures were announced on a Saturday, when the markets are closed — always a sign of confidence that an economic policy decision is the right one.

The stated purpose is to reduce the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants to the U.S. Trump has had success using blunt-force threats in the past, but this is a costly, disruptive way to pursue the supposed goals, and Trump may just want the tariffs for their own sake.

The White House is perpetuating the fiction that foreigners pay tariffs. We know from previous efforts that roughly the entire cost of the tax is passed on to American consumers and businesses. And retaliation from other countries will only make the taxes increase, as the order contains automatic hikes when the other governments respond. It is a downward spiral in which all countries will be made worse off.

These tariffs are far more severe than previous efforts. The China tariffs imposed in 2018 applied to about $350 billion worth of imports from a country the government views as an adversary. These tariffs are on about $1.4 trillion worth of imports, over $900 billion of which are from neighbors.

And tariffs this large will cause the dollar to appreciate — one effect of which is to make illegal drugs from other countries cheaper for Americans to buy.

The tariffs are 25 percent on all goods from Mexico and 25 percent on all goods from Canada except energy, which will be taxed at 10 percent. Goods from China, an actual American adversary, face a 10 percent tax. Past arguments for “decoupling” the U.S. economy from China relied in part on “friendshoring” to Canada and Mexico, two countries with which the U.S. has had a free trade agreement. Now, for no apparent reason, most goods from those two countries will be taxed at over twice as high a rate as those from China.