While most economists and mainstream media outlets are criticizing the Trump tariff war, none are professing that free trade is fair. To quote Bloomberg’s Tyler Cowen, the world trading order is “weighted against the exporting interests of the U.S.” Moreover, it is growing worse. Some argue that a scalpel would have been better than the sledgehammer being used, but the government’s trade policy specialists have tried for year to reconcile foreign trade barriers with only modest success at best. The U.S. president’s goal is to be taken seriously and anything less will only worsen his instincts. This will no doubt mean hard times ahead in agricultural trade. For example, U.S. – EU agrifood trade is lopsided...

TAGS – North America, Macroeconomics