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LETTER Shoot first, ask questions later

2 min read
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Shoot first, ask questions later

Donald Trump has threatened Harley-Davidson, the venerable American motorcycle company, with punitive taxes in response to moving some of its operations abroad following his tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Enacting taxes is part of the responsibility of Congress, not the executive branch, and a tax may not, constitutionally, single out a particular company. But of course, I wouldn’t expect Mr. Trump to know either of those things.

Trump is eager to brag about his time at Wharton School of Business, but I learned about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in high school. It was one of the factors that made the Great Depression worse, and I can’t believe the topic wasn’t covered in an economics class at a school like Wharton.

So, I ask business owners this: If the president does something that makes life more difficult and expensive for you, and you respond reasonably to protect your business, and he threatens you with something that he is not authorized to do in the way of punitive taxation, how would you like it?

When prices of imported metal increase because of tariffs, and prices of agricultural commodities drop as other countries slap on reciprocal tariffs, what happens next? More, higher tariffs on both sides? A ruinous trade war?

Just what we need to undercut the booming economy that is the legacy of the years following the near-collapse of 2008, from which it took careful decisions to emerge from.

“Careful decisions,” though, are the last thing to expect from Trump. Shoot first and ask questions later describes his policy.

Carole McIntyre

Waynesburg

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