People have long tried to discern a method to US President Donald Trump’s tariff madness. Many have concluded that there probably isn’t one. Perhaps the latest threat from the White House is more evidence of that. The plan is to levy 10 to 12.5 per cent tariffs on 60 economies, including China and the European Union (EU). That pretty much accounts for 99 per cent of US trade.
This move, though, is not about protecting the US economy and rebalancing trade. Instead, the rationale is to blame all those governments for the prevalence of forced labour in global supply chains, and the harm it does to US commerce.
That is, of course, laughable. Many of those countries have domestic labour laws and protections as well as those against modern slavery within global supply chains that are far superior to the US’.
Even China and the EU, which are on the verge of a trade war, are united in…
