President Donald Trump has launched a global trade war, raising prices and tanking stocks in the process. His approval rating is in free fall. And yet, somehow, the Democrats are in disarray.

Or at least, they are bitterly bickering over what their party’s stance on trade should be.

Last week, as “Liberation Day” unraveled global markets, House Democrats defended several aspects of Trump’s trade ideology on social media. In a video posted by the caucus’s X account, Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania explained that Washington’s failed “free trade” consensus — the steady lowering of tariff barriers over the past 80 years — had constituted a “race to the bottom” that “hollowed out our industrial power” and “cost us good jobs.”

Nevertheless, Deluzio argued that Trump’s “trade strategy has been chaotic” and “inconsistent.” America did need tariffs — but ones that were carefully targeted and paired with pro-union policies and government subsidies.

This was not what many liberals wished to hear from the Democratic leadership. In their view, the party’s condemnation of Trump’s tariffs should have been unequivocal: The president had just executed the largest middle-class tax hike in modern memory, pushed up consumer prices, lowered Americans’ retirement savings, and increased the risk of recession. There was no reason to say he had a point about free trade — especially since he didn’t.

This story was first featured in The Rebuild.

Sign up here for more stories on the lessons liberals should take away from their election defeat — and a closer look at where they should go next. From senior correspondent Eric Levitz.

Some progressives, on the other hand, appreciated Deluzio’s nuance. In their account, acknowledging the failings of free trade — and the necessity of supporting domestic manufacturing — was a precondition for persuading working-class voters to trust Democrats on the issue.

This debate collapses together two distinct questions:

1) Is Deluzio’s analysis right on the merits?

2) Is his message a politically optimal one for Democrats at the national level?

I think the answer to both of these is “mostly, no.”

Free trade did not hollow out American industry

Deluzio’s case for moderate protectionism can be broken down into (at least) three different claims:

• Free trade agreements hollowed out America’s industrial capacity.
........


© Vox