Tariffs punish consumers and farmers

President Trump invoked the ideal of fairness when announcing a broad array of tariffs last week. In fact, he described his administration’s proposed duties as “kind.” Referring to the European Union, for instance, he said, “They charge us 39%; we’re going to charge 20%. So we’re charging them essentially half.”

That sounds good, even benevolent. But, speaking as a small business owner who will be paying these import duties directly, I can testify that these tariffs are neither fair nor reciprocal, to say nothing of “kind.” To put it bluntly, they are just plain stupid.

The World Trade Organization estimates that the EU’s average tariff on American goods is 2.7% — a far cry from 39.

As economists from Forbes and The Wall Street Journal and others have pointed out, the “unfair” figures touted by the President in the Rose Garden have nothing to do with actual tariffs, but instead reflect a simple ratio of the 2024 US trade deficits with our trading partners, divided by the value of goods imported from each country.

For example, according to the US Trade Representative, the US imported some $606 billion from the EU last year — $236 billion more than the Europeans bought from us. Divide one number by the other and you arrive at 39%.

Precisely because of that trade deficit, even before implementation of these new supplemental charges, the US already collects far more tariffs on European imports than the EU collects on US goods: in 2023, the US collected around $7.5 billion in tariffs on European goods, while the EU collected around $3.25 billion on their US imports.

Let’s be clear: other countries will not pay these new tariffs; I will — along with countless other Americans. My small business will struggle to stay afloat, liable for tens of thousands of dollars on import taxes for orders that we placed months ago. The financial harm will ripple outward, to the family operations in California and Oregon we buy from, and to our retail and restaurants customers in Iowa. Everything will be more expensive.

On a much larger scale, our Iowa economy heavily depends on agriculture and the ability of farmers to trade with other nations. They have good reason to worry about other nations’ retaliation in an escalated trade war.

Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley echoes the president’s apologists, admitting that tariffs may cause “short-term bumps in the road,” but he shows little concern.

There is no question that many countries employ unfair trade practices, including not only tariffs but labor standards. It is entirely appropriate to target problems and to negotiate better solutions. In addition, there are ways to incentivize American businesses to create and sustain good jobs here at home. But those efforts and initiatives take time, and careful hard work.

These proposed tariffs, based on a false calculation having nothing to do with actual trade barriers, will punish the wrong people — consumers already feeling pinched; farmers who want to sell their products, not receive a compensatory government handout; and small businesses like mine.

Robert Morey of Iowa City is owner of the wine import and wholesale company Best Case Wines.