Lighthizer, defending Trump plans: U.S. grew fastest under high tariffs

During the fastest period of U.S. economic growth, from the end of the Civil War to 1900, the average tariff rate was around 10 times higher than today’s and almost always stood at over 40 percent, former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer writes in the Wall Street Journal – accusing the paper of a “jihad” against former President Trump’s tariff plans. Lighthizer was responding to an op-ed by former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm and Donald Boudreaux, a professor of economics...