Tariffs and price-fixing? It's time to make Republicans conservative again

Yahoo

26-05-2025

If we're ever going to make America great again, we apparently need to trade protectionism, price controls and profligate spending to make happen.
That's the kind of message I expected during President Barack Obama's administration. Yet here I am in 2025 being told by Washington Republicans that our path to victory is paved with big government policies—just as long as it's our big government, aimed squarely at "owning the libs."
As a long-time conservative with a healthy dose of libertarian skepticism, let me tell you: Government power is and will always be the problem. The fleeting satisfaction of political wins from an overpowered executive branch only primes the weapon for the next liberal executive's use.
We must be honest about what we're seeing from Republicans. Some of it is absolutely consistent with timeless principles of limited government, economic freedom, and fiscal responsibility. For example, the Trump administration's dogged adherence to the rule of law with respect to immigration is a refreshing change from countless lawless administrations who either ignored border security or engaged in selective immigration enforcement.
But some of Trump's ideas are, simply put, progressive liberal priorities.
"He's playing five-dimensional chess!" some will exclaim, assuring me there's a masterstroke afoot that my simple, principle-based brain can't comprehend. Others will shrug and say, "Well, he's a billionaire, so he understands economics better than you.' Perhaps more to the point, "He doesn't need anyone's money, so there's no corruption!"
If triggering the opposition is the cardinal metric of success, then mission accomplished. #Winning
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I understand the visceral appeal. Through media, business, and government, progressives have repeatedly shown a willingness to hammer Americans into believing, thinking, and feeling as they do. I can't tell you how many times I've explained federalism to my progressive friends only to be told that everyone in America deserves a one-size-fits-all policy from Washington.
They certainly don't seem to like that answer now.
Yes, government as a populist cudgel occasionally feels good for Republicans. We're simultaneously contorting ourselves to justify policies that would make Ronald Reagan or Milton Friedman spin in their graves.
Let's start with something that should make any free-market advocate's skin crawl: government price-fixing.
President Trump signed an executive order trying to tie American drug prices to those in other countries. I'm all for finding ways to lower drug costs, but government-mandated price controls? That's a funny way to champion free enterprise.
Here's the real kicker, the part that should be a five-alarm fire for conservatives: None other than progressive Representative Ro Khanna, D-California, offered to introduce President Trump's drug pricing executive order as legislation, verbatim. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, chimed in with his support as well.
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When Democrats are unreservedly eager to codify "conservative" policy, it's time to seriously re-evaluate whose playbook we're using.
Price controls have a nasty habit of stifling innovation and leading to shortages – ask anyone who lived through Nixon's wage and price freezes. If we want cheaper drug prices, Congress should tighten up patents, radically improve the ability of Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate, and create a more reasonable regulatory process.
Then there's the whole tariff saga.
We were promised that "trade wars are good, and easy to win." How's that working out?
As a strategic tool to enhance free trade, I understand, or at least thought I understood, Trump's gamble. While risky, slapping the globe with tariffs as a tool to get them to drop their tariffs on American goods and services makes a lot of sense. Then Trump could roll back American tariffs and take a victory lap for the greatest American economic windfall in several generations.
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If the U.K. trade deal is any indication, that's not what we're getting. In fact, the average effective tariff rate Americans will pay is about nine percentage points higher than before Trump's 'Liberation Day.'
Let's be clear: tariffs are taxes. They are taxes paid by American importers, who then pass those costs on to American consumers.
In the name of being tough, we ended up taxing ourselves. Consumers should decide what we want and what we're willing to pay, not politicians.
Republicans have also forgotten a healthy skepticism of authoritarian foreign powers with a checkered past. No, I'm not talking about Vladimir Putin this time. President Trump accepting a luxury jet from Qatar, a nation that has a documented history of funding groups hostile to the United States, sends a profoundly disturbing message.
It suggests that access and influence in the White House can be bought, or at least heavily swayed, by those with deep pockets and questionable motives. Just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be.
Aren't we supposed to be draining the 'swamp'?
How can we credibly criticize Hunter Biden's influence peddling if we're turning a blind eye to similar behavior on our own side? Help me understand how $TRUMP cryptocurrency run by Donald Trump Jr. is any different than the younger Biden's artwork. It has no real value beside what people are willing to pay for it.
Some folks might tell you that conservative principles are old-fashioned, dusty concepts from a bygone era. They'd have you believe we must "evolve" past them to win. But let's be clear: principles don't have an expiration date. They aren't fads that come and go like our politicians.
They are the difference between a society that cherishes liberty and one that stumbles blindly into a thousand years of darkness.
USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney raising four boys in Nolensville, Tennessee, with his particularly patient wife, Justine. Direct outrage or agreement to [e-mail] or @DCameronSmith on Twitter. This column first appeared in the Tennessean.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Trump's tariffs and plan for drug prices lean liberal | Opinion