Since President Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, it seems that many people—particularly the chattering classes—have suddenly become experts in international trade. Mr. Trump’s tariffs have spawned a litany of what economist David Henderson termed “do-it-yourself economics.” These are economic ideas that reflect the intuitive notions of laypeople and owe nothing to the ideas generated by trained economists and the economics profession. Not surprisingly, Henderson concluded that the gap between the notions of do-it-yourself economics and orthodox economics is widest in the sphere of international trade.
This gap is evident in the current brouhaha over trade and tariffs, particularly in the two opposing camps: those responsible for formulating the administration’s trade agenda (Mr. Trump and his cabinet) and those critiquing it (primarily commentators and journalists). The result of this dynamic is not only that the Trump administration has enacted wrongheaded trade policies, but also that the opposition to these policies is largely ineffective or irrelevant. Both camps are engaged in do-it-yourself economics.
