Photograph Source: Dwight Burdette – CC BY 3.0

Trade policy isn’t sexy, but it is weighty, economically speaking. Jobs and wage-income are at-stake. Take President Trump’s trade policy, notably his fondness for tariffs, a tax on U.S. imports that businesses and workers pay.

We begin with the Trump administration’s decision to provide a $20 billion “swap line” (currency exchanges between central banks) with the government of Argentina. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessemer is the point man for the White House on this financial and political issue.

The Latin American country is in financial distress over its issuance of foreign bonds since President Javier Milei slashed public spending to spur economic growth. Such economic policy goes by the name of austerity.

However, Milei’s so-called pro-growth approach has had the opposite effect. Hunger and poverty among the Argentine working class are up. Workers’ household income is down.

“Argentina’s poverty rate has soared to almost 53% in the first six months of Javier Milei’s presidency,” reports the Guardian, “offering the first hard evidence of........

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