“Tariffs are a tax on consumers” we are often told by Principled Free Traders, concurrent with their promotion of outsourcing and offshoring as many American jobs as possible. This lowers consumer prices, we are assured.
Well good news! There is no longer a need to continue paying “conservative” advocates of unilateral free trade to write these op-eds extolling the benefits of shipping American jobs overseas. Thanks to AI, those op-eds can now be written for free! All the Principled Free Traders at America-last publications can now enjoy the new opportunities created by losing their jobs in a dying industry, while also saving their employers that much labor cost. The savings will surely be passed on to the consumers of those publications.
As I frequently mention, my derision of “free trade” is a result of 21st century Principled Free Traders hijacking the historically understood definition of free trade, that being reciprocal free trade (which I generally supported), and replacing it with advocacy for non-reciprocal “free trade,” which is actually a unilateral surrender to foreign mercantilism, even when the economic surrender is to foreign nations that are hostile to the United States.
David Harsanyi is particularly passionate about the benefits of offshoring American jobs without any tariff protections, and without requiring reciprocal free trade. He also has a disturbing enthusiasm for foreign laborers being exploited and working in horrible conditions, as I’ll get to. But in this AI era, why should America-last publications even bother to pay an actual American citizen to write its pieces advocating for putting Americans out of work? AI can do it. So, I decided to have Grok give it a go.
Specifically, I requested of Grok: Write a paragraph in the style of David Harsanyi advocating for non-reciprocal free trade that lowers consumer prices. I’d say that Grok nailed it:
From Grok: Let's get one thing straight: the notion that we need reciprocal trade agreements to protect our economy is a relic of a bygone era. Non-reciprocal free trade, where we open up our markets without demanding the same from others, isn't just good policy—it's a game-changer for the average American. Why? Because it slashes consumer prices. When we don't shackle our trade policies with the tit-for-tat of reciprocity, we give our consumers access to a global bazaar of goods, from electronics to apparel, at lower prices. And let's be clear, this isn't about giving away the store; it's about unleashing the power of competition. Tariffs and protectionism are just fancy ways of saying "higher prices" for the folks back home. By embracing non-reciprocal free trade, we're not just boosting our own economy—we're standing up for the consumer, ensuring they get more bang for their buck in a world where every penny counts.
I realize that I am not being particularly respectful of the “conservative writer” David Harsanyi, who has many friends in conservative pundit circles. But just days before the 2024 Presidential election, Harsanyi wrote in one of his free trade columns that those of us supporting Trump’s America-first economic policies were engaged in “idiocy” and that we were “dead eyed zombies” who “will just repeat whatever Trump says.” Yeah, no respect given, none returned.
Now, compare a sample of Harsanyi’s actual writing with that from Grok. This little sample is from David Harsanyi’s piece in the Washington Examiner in late October 2024 titled “Trump’s Tariffs Would Put U.S. Last.”
Now, I realize that some of the dead-eyed partisan zombies in the GOP will just repeat whatever Trump says, but this is idiocy. For one thing, tariffs are literally a tax, as they are paid by U.S. corporations and consumers. Secondly, the difference between the price of goods today and the price added by a tariff is called “tax incidence” or “the let’s screw consumers surcharge.” Sooner or later, consumers pay every tax.
However, Trump is right about one thing: Trade isn’t fair. Americans should pray it never gets fair. I’m sure the billions of people in developing nations who work tedious menial labor jobs probably don’t find it “fair” that Americans use the savings found in trade to help build unprecedented wealth.
Trade allows average working-class Americans to buy all kinds of things they could not otherwise afford because of trade. Forcing working-class Americans to make things foreigners or machines can make cheaper only undermines the creation of better jobs for them and their children.
Just for fun, let me translate that final sentence from Mr. Harsanyi into a call to outsource Mr. Harsanyi’s own writing: “Forcing Beltway pundits to write free trade pieces that machines can write cheaper only undermines the creation of better jobs for them and their children.
By the way, that line about ”billions of people in developing nations who work tedious menial labor jobs probably don’t find it fair” is pretty tame compared to some of Harsanyi’s enthusiastic writing about exploiting foreign labor in miserable working conditions. In a 2020 National Review piece titled ““The Dangerous Buy American Canard” Harsanyi wrote,
As to populists’ crowd-pleasing promises to level the trade playing field and make things “fair,” we should be careful what we wish for. If things are made truly fair, the average American worker will find himself laboring in a hazardous factory for a pittance, subsisting on a subpar diet, receiving third-world-quality medical care, and living in a tiny, decrepit house or apartment. The billions of people in developing nations who work dreary menial labor jobs probably don’t find it “fair” that we Americans, with our great wealth, can afford to make them do grunt work, even if the arrangement benefits both parties in the long run.
John Calhoun smiles, and would probably agree with Harsanyi that rather than hiring American citizens to work in civilized conditions, more wealth can be accumulated by reaching overseas to access foreign laborers who should appreciate the “positive good” of having decrepit housing, rudimentary medical care, a hazardous workplace, and a subpar diet.
I don’t have many political heroes, but Riley Moore is one of them. As Treasurer of West Virginia, he was the first state official to use his power to start pushing back against woke capital. He did so by pulling state funds out of banks that were hostile to West Virginia’s energy industries. He got the ball rolling, and now there are much bigger states following his lead and putting the villains of woke capital on defense.
Well, Riley Moore is now a Congressman, and his very first bill relates to the subject of non-reciprocal free trade.
Second District Congressman Riley Moore, R-W.Va., announced Friday that he was introducing his first bill as a lead sponsor, the United States Reciprocal Trade Act, along with eight co-sponsors.
The Reciprocal Trade Act would authorize Trump to directly negotiate with other countries to either lower foreign tariffs on American goods or to issue reciprocal tariffs on those countries and imported goods into the U.S. According to Moore, the bill will give Trump the tools needed to restore balance with other countries when it comes to exports of manufactured goods from the U.S.
Riley Moore is an activist fighting on behalf of Americans and our energy industry, and against globalist woke capital. Thank you, Representative Moore.
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