The strength of a nation begins with the strength of its families. A father must be able to provide if he is to lead his household. Without steady work, the foundation of family life crumbles. Marriage falls, birth rates sink, and despair spreads. For decades, our country’s trade policy stripped men of dignified jobs, and entire regions paid the price. To rebuild the household, America must rebuild work. That requires trade rules that end foreign abuse and secure the role of the provider.
In his second term, President Donald Trump has again used tariffs to defend American workers. The results speak plainly. Revenue is pouring into the Treasury, and foreign powers find themselves back at the bargaining table. Yet the forces opposed to an America First trade policy remain relentless. Democratic politicians are dispatching lawyers from liberal states to file lawsuits. Ideological judges continue to strike down Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as a tool for tariffs. To these liberals, the hollowing out of America’s industrial base at the hands of China somehow does not qualify as an emergency.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S OCT. 1 TARIFFS ON TRUCKS, FURNITURE, AND PHARMACEUTICALS
Trump and his administration rightfully do not accept that. They know that for decades, foreign countries have rigged the game to create unfair competition and a massive trade deficit. These countries wall off their markets. They exploit labor with starvation wages. They allow factories to dump toxins into rivers, poison the skies, and heap waste into the ocean. Then they ship their goods into the United States, driving down wages here and hollowing out families. And Democrats have enabled this arrangement while preaching sermons on the environment.
Thankfully, Trump is committed to using tariffs to level the playing field, and the Democrats can’t stop them. One pro-family approach is a “pollution tariff,” a trade mechanism targeting the much lower environmental standards of other countries. It tells foreign producers that pollution cannot serve as a hidden subsidy. The evidence is overwhelming: rivers poisoned in China, plastics scattered across Southeast Asia, and industrial waste spreading through India (often into our shared oceans and atmosphere). This is documented harm, and it creates an undeniable burden on American workers.
Implementing a pollution tariff would establish a clear standard. It would ensure that foreign producers who exploit lax environmental standards face consequences at the border. It would secure fairness for American firms that proudly operate under strict rules. It would reward the discipline and stewardship of American labor. The results of that stewardship are clear: American manufacturing is four times cleaner than the Chinese equivalent.
This strategy also happens to be great politics, pointing out the Left’s hypocrisy on the environment just like Vice President J.D. Vance did on the debate stage during the campaign. The Left claims alarm about climate while driving production to the worst offenders abroad. As Vance said, if you actually are concerned about emissions, “you’d want to reshore as much American manufacturing as possible and you’d want to produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America because we’re the cleanest economy in the entire world.”
As we know, any sufficiently ambitious approach on trade will have detractors. Critics label tariffs protectionist. That word should be embraced. The first duty of government is protection for its citizens. For too long, Wall Street received protection under global trade rules. Families deserve the same, and a pollution tariff delivers it. It shields workers from foreign abuse. It defends wages against cartels abroad. Americans have worked for generations to protect their children from the environmental harms of pollution, and we should protect them from the economic harms as well.
TRUMP’S TARIFF TROUBLES PUT DEMOCRATS IN TIGHT SPOT OVER FARMER RELIEF
While this is focused on the economy, many on the Right have woken up to realize that trade policy doesn’t just reorient markets, but also culture, family, and the role of the father. When men are denied dignified work, households weaken. When households weaken, children grow without stability. Communities sink into despair. For decades, free trade dogma treated the provider as expendable. Elites told men their work had no place in the modern economy. The consequences fill our towns: addiction, loneliness, and decay. A pollution tariff offers a turn in the other direction by tying family security to economic security.
The path forward is clear. Either global elites dictate trade policy, or America asserts control in defense of its families. A pollution tariff anchors the Trump trade revolution in law, revenue, and principle. It confronts foreign polluters. It restores work as the foundation of the household. And it makes plain that the health of the nation depends on the ability of fathers to provide.
Anthony LaBruna is the executive director at the American Principles Project.
