The Wall Street Journal featured an editorial in its weekend edition declaring that if Donald Trump went ahead with his plan to impose tariffs on America’s two biggest trading partners, it would constitute “the dumbest trade war in history.”

He did, and it is.

The Journal’s argument, which reflects similar cases made in innumerable other sites on TV, in print and on the internet, is that the crusade Trump launched “makes no sense.” It will penalize goods Americans buy because they want them and need them. It will increase prices for Americans gratis a president who vowed to reduce inflation. It will cost jobs for Americans, undermine American companies, impact American productivity, hurt American farmers…