President Donald Trump was lectured on Sunday by the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board after he announced a trade deal with the European Union.
The trade deal imposes a 15% tariff on goods the U.S. imports from the E.U. The 27-country bloc will also get a break on the 25% auto tariffs that Trump had previously imposed, although the 50% tariff on European steel and aluminum will continue.
In an editorial published after the meeting, the Journal’s editorial board argued that the deal was not as good as Trump made it out to be.
“Though his tariff apologists think otherwise, Mr. Trump can’t repeal the laws of economics,” the editorial reads in part.
For instance, the editorial board said the deal doesn’t address Trump’s main grievances with the E.U., such as their digital privacy legislation and food standards.
Instead, Trump appears to have decided to tax American consumers, according to the editorial.
“Making Americans pay more for drugs via the tariff is an odd way to punish Europe for its price controls that let it free ride on American drug innovation,” it reads in part.
That incongruity in Trump’s trade deals also puts Trump’s supporters in an awkward position, the editorial continued. They seem to be arguing that Trump’s trade policies are good because they have not caused an economic depression. But that doesn’t explain why Trump has backed away from trade policies that he once thought were good, according to the editorial.
“Mr. Trump is the one who has retreated from his North American and reciprocal trade assaults, and the damage in lost trust in the U.S. and new economic costs is still real,” it reads.