The guys who got the election wrong got the trade war wrong, too

President Trump caught reporters flat-footed in the election in 2016.

He again caught them flat-footed in the renegotiation of NAFTA this summer.

In July, Patrick Gillespie, an economics reporter for CNN, said, "America's last trade war exacerbated the Great Depression in the 1930s, when unemployment rose to 25%. Claiming it was protecting American jobs, Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Act in 1930. The original bill was meant to protect farmers. But to build political support, many lawmakers asked for tariffs -- or taxes -- on all sorts of goods in exchange for their vote."

Never mind that nobody was buying much at the time because there was a worldwide recession at the time, the media (and many economists) blames tariffs.

Donald J. Boudreaux, an economics teacher at George Mason, flat out called President Trump's policy economic suicide.

Boudreaux wrote in a column for Fox News, "The U.S. economy is booming -- but it depends on trade. Exports support 10 million U.S. jobs, imports support another 16 million,  and every single one of us has a life that's full of items manufactured abroad.

"Trump’s trade war means higher prices for American consumers, lower margins and less revenue for U.S. firms, and worse jobs for workers. It's economic suicide."

But the stock market didn't buy that, and unemployment has fallen to the point where workers can quit a bad job knowing they can get something better.

Sigh.

Economist Jeff Rubin wrote, "Canada's next salvo in the trade war should hit Trump where it really hurts — coal."

In his column, Rubin said, "Trump would surely feel the burn if the estimated 800 Burlington Northern Santa Fe unit trains of coal hauled every year to the Westshore Terminals were hit with a carbon tax imposed by the federal or British Columbia government. Former B.C. Premier Christy Clark had threatened to slap a 70 per cent carbon tax on those very shipments in retaliation for soaring U.S. duties on softwood lumber."

Canada was wise enough to ignore that advice because the United States can survive without Canada better than Canada can survive without the United States.

Good luck selling those Made in Ontario Impalas in Europe.

President Trump used tariffs to force a renegotiation of NAFTA. That done, he moves on to force Red China to make trade concessions.

This helps American workers, American consumers, and American thousandaire retirees as it buoys the stock market.

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Trump the Press covers the nomination.

Trump the Establishment covers the election.

Fake News Follies of 2017 covers his first year as president.

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