One of the more distressing and distressingly fundamental misunderstandings of trade economics is the question of who pays tariffs? The people whose pockets become lighter are those inside the tariff “protections” and thus it is they who pay them. It is vital to understand this as we consider Trump’s most recent actions upon those trade tariffs. It is American consumers who will pay them, not foreigners.

This understanding isn’t aided by the manner in which the issue is reported. The Financial Times tells us “US to impose tariffs on EU, Canada and Mexico,” The Independent says “US to impose steel tariffs on EU from midnight after talks break down,” and The Guardian writes “US hits allies with steel tariffs to spark trade war with EU, Canada and Mexico.”