Why Trump’s Protectionism Is Futile

The president is wrong to attribute industrial decline to foreign competition, and the rising dollar is likely to cause the trade deficit to rise.

Stanford, Calif.

President Trump may not be a friend of international trade, but he’s a gift for a trade economist. Douglas Irwin has just hauled himself across the country from his perch at Dartmouth College to lecture on the president’s trade policy. His talk is titled “Exercise in Futility.” The next day, he and his massive suitcase will fly west to Singapore for more lectures on the same insistent theme.

The...