Koch Brother on Trump Tariffs: Ignore National Security and Jobs for Profits and Cheap Imports

As President Trump made history signing into law his tariffs on steel and aluminum to protect American workers and U.S. industries, GOP megadonor Charles Koch called on “corporate leaders” to “reject” the decision.

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Charles Koch — one-half of the pro-mass immigration Koch brothers — urged corporations and chief executives to ignore the national security and job interests of the U.S. and instead focus on profits and cheap imports when it comes to Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Koch writes, opposing Trump’s tariffs:

The same has been true throughout history. Countries with the freest trade have tended to not only be the wealthiest but also the most tolerant. Conversely, the restriction of trade — whether through tariffs, quotas or other means — has hurt the economy and pitted people against each other. Tariffs increase prices, limit choices, reduce competition and inhibit innovation. Equally troubling, research shows that they fail to increase the number of jobs overall. Consider the devastation of cities such as Detroit, where trade barriers to aid the auto industry did nothing to halt its decline.

The administration’s recent decision to impose major steel and aluminum tariffs — on top of higher tariffs on washing machines and solar panels — will have the same harmful effect. Without a doubt, those who can least afford it will be harmed the most. Having just helped consumers keep more of their money by passing tax reform, it makes little sense to take it away via higher costs.

One might assume that, as the head of Koch Industries — a large company involved in many industries, including steel — I would applaud such import tariffs because they would be to our immediate and financial benefit. But corporate leaders must reject this type of short-term thinking, and we have. If we are to have a system in which businesses can succeed long term, policies must benefit everyone, not just the few.

Koch, however, does not mention the reason Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross first requested the 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum or why Trump has now made those tariffs official: National security.

The Trump administration says that the tariffs are crucial to making the U.S. a sustainable nation again that does not rely on foreign countries like China, among others, for cheap steel and aluminum imports.

Trump’s tariffs are designed to protect three components of national security:

• The national defense base where the U.S. is able to build war-fighting equipment without relying on a foreign country for steel and aluminum imports
• Maintaining a domestic infrastructure for steel and aluminum
• Retaining a strong, growing steel and aluminum workforce of Americans

These measures, along with the American jobs that have been lost due to free trade, went ignored by Koch, who has also opposed Trump’s efforts to reduce legal immigration levels to raise the wages and quality of life for American workers.