Trump's trade protectionism cuts into your new tax break

President Trump ran as a skeptic of free trade. That made many conservatives skeptical of him.

But then, he became president, and his first year was not marked by the onslaught of protectionism that many people had feared. In fact, if you can look beyond the silly daily controversies and the process stories and the boorish provocations on social media, conservatives have had a lot to cheer them about this presidency, particularly on the economy.

Trump's erstwhile conservative detractors were showing signs of hopeful reassessment. Unfortunately, this week has brought a setback for those who dared hope that Trump would recognize that tariffs and other protectionist measures cannot be used effectively to beat an economy into shape.

The Trump administration took two new and very harmful actions that will, sadly, scale back some of the benefits consumers reap from the tax reform bill signed just before Christmas, the president's biggest achievement so far.

First, he imposed a punitive tariff against two of the most popular brand manufacturers of washing machines. LG and Samsung are being punished, not in response to complaints from consumers, who have watched prices plummet and quality increase in a free market, but in response to a complaint from Whirlpool, a domestic competitor.