Mr. Trump tapped into nostalgia for the days of plentiful, secure, well-paying jobs in traditional industries – promising a 'Michigan miracle' of an auto sector restored to 20th-century glories, as part of a new golden era in manufacturing. The crowd cheers as Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 5.
That approach has been largely maintained by Mr. Biden. He kept in place Mr. Trump’s tariffs on imports such as steel and aluminum, and added new ones on EVs, batteries and solar panels. That would be accompanied by especially combative measures toward certain countries, such as a 25-per-cent tariff on all imports from Mexico.
Mr. Iacovella countered that tariffs’ inflationary impacts are dramatically overstated by opponents who fail to account for domestic production replacing newly expensive foreign goods. But he acknowledged that some tariffs might require carve-outs, or gradual implementation, for domestic industry to catch up.