Tariffs

The Federal Reserve faces a choice it does not want to make. Tariffs push prices higher while political pressure demands lower rates. A central bank that ignores this collision risks losing both its credibility and its independence.

The 25% steel tariff raises shipbuilding costs for the Navy and strains the defense industrial base, undermining the readiness that Washington hawks claim to support while American workers pay higher prices.

A proposed $2,500 fee on each H-2A and H-2B visa would raise wages for a few bureaucrats while emptying your wallet at the checkout lane. It is the worst kind of immigration reform: one that grows the state and shrinks your budget.

The across-the-board tariffs pushed in 2025 and 2026 are raising prices on cars, appliances, and construction materials. Free trade is not the enemy of American workers; hidden taxes disguised as patriotism are.

The Federal Reserve has stopped warning that sweeping tariffs will push consumer prices higher. That silence suggests political pressure is now shaping monetary messaging more than price stability.

The administration's spring 2026 tariff hikes and workplace immigration raids raise prices, slow hiring, and drain federal resources. Americans should reject economic nationalism and demand market-based immigration reform that secures borders without crushing commerce.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 172,000 new jobs in May and a 4.3 percent unemployment rate. Average hourly earnings rose 3.4 percent year over year. With tariff uncertainty still ahead, the Federal Reserve should keep interest rates steady rather than cut prematurely.

Economic nationalism sounds tough, but unilateral tariffs isolate America while China builds alternative trade architectures. Real strength requires allied supply chains and a defense industrial base that outproduces Beijing. Washington must choose leverage over theater.

Washington has spent decades treating defense and trade as separate files. That division is finished. Export controls, tariffs, and supply-chain security are now instruments of deterrence against Beijing, and their overlap shapes both the dollar and Pacific alliances.

The CBO and the Federal Reserve have both updated their assessments of the tariff strategy's effect on domestic production. The updates contain findings the critics of the strategy did not anticipate.

Tariffs are paid by American importing companies and passed to consumers as higher prices. The Tax Foundation estimated Trump's 2018 tariffs cost the average U.S. household $800 to $1,200 per year, a regressive tax hitting working families hardest.

A multistate coalition of attorneys general filed suit to block President Trump's latest round of import taxes. The case might win on the constitutional merits, but it won't help the small business owner trying to make payroll this Friday.