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After U.S. President Donald Trump imposed broad tariffs, some of his left-wing critics began quoting economists like Milton Friedman, who adamantly believed in unilateral free trade.

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Friedman preferred that our trading partners refrain from imposing barriers on goods imported from the United States. He said, “We would be benefited by dispensing with our tariffs even if other countries did not. We would, of course, be benefited even more if they reduce theirs, but our benefiting does not require that they reduce tariffs.”

What if Trump succeeds in getting our trading partners to reduce their tariffs, which are imposed at a higher rate on American goods? Friedman served as an adviser to former president Ronald Reagan, who, free trade rhetoric aside, did engage in some protectionism, including imposing “voluntary import quotas” on foreign vehicles, primarily from........

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