A Solid Majority are Against Trump Tariffs

 From Foundation for Economic Education, April 19, 2025: 

A new national poll just dropped, and the results are striking. AtlasIntel—now considered America’s most precise pollster—asked people what they think of the new tariffs announced by the Trump administration. The response? A solid majority, 52%, are completely against them. Only 23% are completely in favor. In an age of polarization, that amounts to a national consensus. Among young people, opposition is even stronger: 64% of Americans aged 18–29 are completely against the tariffs, and another 5% are mostly against them. That’s more than two-thirds of the next generation rejecting protectionism! That might be because of a general distrust in the current government, sure. But more importantly, it suggests something deeper: a generation that leans instinctively toward free trade. That instinct is gold. But instinct alone won’t last.   Atlas National Poll — Conducted April 10–14, 2025 If we want this moment to matter, if we want to build lasting, principled support for open markets, we need to turn intuition into understanding. That’s where economic education comes in. Right now, many Americans can sense that tariffs are bad. Prices haven’t surged at the checkout line just yet, but people are paying attention. They see markets dipping. Treasury yields climbing. The dollar weakening. They’re connecting the dots. In fact, in the same poll: 64% of all Americans and 79% of young Americans believe the tariffs will increase price inflation. That’s a good start. But people need to understand why this happens.   Atlas National Poll — Conducted April 10–14, 2025 Tariffs are taxes. That’s the first lesson we teach our students. When you tax imports, you raise the cost of doing business. Not just for consumers at the checkout line, but for manufacturers trying to source materials. Prices go up. Options go down. But there’s a second, deeper layer. And it comes down to something we teach all the time at FEE: opportunity cost. Alex Tabarrok put it brilliantly in a piece recently published at FEE.org. Here’s a version of his example: Let’s say we slap tariffs on imported wine. Suddenly, demand for California wine spikes. Local producers scramble to meet it. But to grow more grapes, they need more land. They’re already using the best land. So they expand to less productive land, which increases costs. Plus, that land could’ve been used for something else: almonds, cattle, solar panels, even homes. So now we’re not just paying more for wine; we’re paying more for everything else, too. That’s the real cost: inefficiency, lower productivity. Not all popular instincts are pointed in the right direction. Proponents argue that tariffs will strengthen American manufacturing, and 41% of respondents agree. Only 37% recognize that tariffs actually weaken it. Younger Americans show a better grasp of the issue, with 45% identifying the harm tariffs pose to manufacturing.   Atlas National Poll — Conducted April 10–14, 2025 More people should look at the evidence. Manufacturing jobs as a share of employment in the U.S. have kept on declining. But manufacturing employment in China is declining, too. Why? Because China isn’t frozen in time. They’ve automated. “Dark factories” run on machines, not manpower. If the U.S. wants to compete, it needs to move forward, not clinging to a nostalgic past.   Yes, that is China, not America. Almost 75 million manufacturing jobs lost since 2011. (Source: Financial Times) Modern manufacturing is global, complex, and high-tech. Tariffs don’t help it. They hobble it. As Ryan Petersen from Flexport points out, many small American businesses are getting crushed, unable to shift suppliers or absorb higher costs:   Yes, tariffs could bankrupt thousands of U.S. small businesses that rely on Chinese manufacturing due to limited alternatives. In fact, data from Flexport shows a 50% drop in ocean freight bookings from China since tariffs hit, threatening $1 trillion in U.S. economic activity. In fact, Chinese factories may acquire failing U.S. brands, capturing the high-value customer-facing segment and vertically integrating supply chains. In other words, the policy meant to protect American enterprise will be its undoing. That’s why this moment matters. The polling is encouraging. Americans are skeptical. Young people are leading the charge. That’s a signal. But signals fade. It’s our job to turn that signal into signal strength. Because instincts, left alone, drift. They need grounding. They need explanation. They need to stick. We need to teach, clearly, repeatedly, how protectionism: Raises prices by taxing inputs and distorting resource use, Hurts U.S. manufacturers by making their supply chains more expensive, Can’t revive yesterday’s jobs in today’s global economy, and Punishes innovation by forcing inefficient production. That’s what economic education is for. That’s why FEE exists. Let’s keep teaching.

In Liberty, Diogo Costa President, FEE

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