[Hoot Gibson]

Free trade is not a conservative litmus test. I consider myself an implacable social conservative, but would never support a free trader- no matter how conservative- for public office. Free trade has been a curse on much of this country. I suggest you tell textile workers throughout the Upper South, furniture workers, steelworkers, and auto parts workers- among others- how great it is. Free trade is the curse of our small towns and cities. The proponents of free trade are the enemies of the common people.

Trade wars create a lot of very poor common people. The steel industry has been thriving in this country in recent years and 70 percent of the steel used in this country is produced domestically.

Trump was on the right track when he lowered personal and corporate tax rates and rolled back ridiculous regulations on manufacturing, but he has jumped the rails with his tariff proposals. The biggest villain in the global economy is China, which systematically steals our intellectual property and widely uses slave labor to produce cheap knock-offs, but these tariffs will hurt trading partners like Canada and EU most.

The Great Depression should have ended the debate over whether high tariffs can produce prosperity and the notion that trade wars are easy to "win."

BTW, the article to which I linked was written by three of Trump's top economic advisers, who obviously did not believe his campaign promises to impose high tariffs on imports. The proponents of protectionist policies are the real enemies of so-called "common people." If you want to know who pays tariffs, then look to your left, look to your right, and then look in the mirror.