President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs sent shockwaves through international markets. His across-the-board duty hikes will harm American households and businesses — if they go into effect. And even with the subsequent 90-day pause, the uncertainty makes markets skittish.

Tariffs are taxes, and taxes impede specialization and trade. The U.S. will be poorer as a result of them. Perhaps other nations will negotiate, but they may instead decide to retaliate. That would make the resulting economic pain worse.

Americans sent Trump back to the White House to lower prices and grow the economy. Widespread protectionism will do the opposite. For an administration that touts its working-class bona fides, officials seem totally unaware of how burdensome tariffs will be for low- and middle-income workers. The smaller your budget, the more higher prices hurt.

That said, we shouldn’t go overboard. Forecasters and policy analysts are saying that the sky is falling. But if we overestimate the costs of trade restrictions today, we make it harder to sell the public on free trade tomorrow. There’s a reason politicians try to set a low bar for themselves before a........

© The Hill