President Trump’s threatened 25 percent tariffs against Canada and Mexico — now delayed for a month — have been called dumb, absurd, baffling, purposeless and “a sledgehammer for a non-existent problem.”

The tariffs are nonsense, whether from trade or economic nationalism perspectives. However, they make sense in ominous cultural terms, as outlined in Trump’s second inaugural speech — his “I Have a Nightmare” speech, which listed off America’s many trade and cultural enemies.

Prominent mercantilist thinkers such as Alexander Hamilton and Friedrich List established in their time an economic rationale for protectionism to grow “infant industries.” Today, however, such justifications are completely out of date. Tariffs will only harm fully grown and highly competitive American industries — from agriculture to automobiles to artificial intelligence.

Another nationalist case for tariffs arises during severe economic downturns, when groups hurting from global exposure petition for protection. The Panic of 1873 instigated high tariffs in Germany, and the Smoot Hawley tariffs in the U.S.........

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