The current trade flap with China is a great reminder of one of my favorite themes: why presidents should not be guided by what they think is right.
That certainly seems to be what's going on here. Donald Trump's commitment to tariffs, and more generally to zero-sum mercantilist thinking about trade, is very much personal, as my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Timothy L. O'Brien explains.
But whatever Trump thinks, he’s hardly a serious expert on international trade - as demonstrated by his explanations of how tariffs work. That’s not unusual, however. Most presidents are true experts on few, if any, policy questions.