For decades, global elites dictated the parameters of international trade, mostly to benefit multinational corporations, not American workers. There was nothing “free” about such trade. Rather, it created a rigged system that invited foreign governments to impose tariffs and price controls while manipulating labor markets to flood our country with underpriced goods. All the while, the United States played by rules no one else followed. The result? Hollowed-out factories, lost jobs, and a middle class squeezed from every direction.

President Donald Trump saw the injustice and set out to fix it. His “America First” economic agenda isn’t about isolated tariffs or headline-making trade moves — it’s a broader economic realignment designed to put American workers, companies, and communities back at the center of national policy. While some well-meaning critics raise concerns about the cost of tariffs or the impact on global supply chains, these narrow analyses miss the forest for the trees.