How Republicans Learned to Love High Prices

Scott Lincicome: “After spending most of the 2024 campaign blaming Democrats for inflation and insisting that tariffs don’t increase prices, Donald Trump and his allies have a new economic message: High prices are good.”

“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, for example, recently admitted to the Economic Club of New York that inflation-weary Americans could see a ‘one-time price adjustment’ from Trump’s tariffs, but he quickly added that ‘access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream.’ Representative Mark Alford of Missouri told CNN, ‘We all have a role to play in this to rightsize our government, and if I have to pay a little bit more for something, I’m all for it to get America right again.’ And Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick put his own spin on the argument, telling NBC News that, yes, prices on imports will rise, but American-made goods will get cheaper, and that’s what matters. (In fact, tariffs generally lead to price increases for imported and domestic goods, because the latter face less foreign-price competition.)”

“It’s true that affordable goods and services are not, on their own, the definition of the American dream. But they’re a necessary component of it, and trade is one of the most important drivers of that affordability. Until recently, Republicans understood this quite well.”