Dating back to his first term in office, President Donald Trump has framed his tariff policies as essential for American national security.
Sometimes that connection has been quite direct. Tariffs on steel and aluminum were imposed because the White House believed the U.S. needed a robust domestic supply of those metals to meet military needs in the event of a war (even though a hypothetical war that cuts off aluminum imports from Canada and other allies is pretty difficult to imagine). In other cases, the logic has been even more strained—like when the White House tried claiming that furniture, cars, and even foreign-made movies are somehow a national security threat.
