PoliticoHow a T-shirt explains Donald Trump’s trade war

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Ben White on politico.com on August 8, 2018.

Scott Lincicome, a veteran trade lawyer and adjunct scholar at the free-market Cato Institute, was scrolling through Twitter one Saturday morning when he saw a photo of a woman at a Donald Trump rally wearing a T-shirt that said something like “Tariffs are great!”

Then he had an inspiration. He would create his own shirt highlighting how difficult it is for opponents of protectionist trade policy to combat these kinds of easy slogans.

The shirt, which quickly went viral and has appeared on NBC, Bloomberg and other TV networks reads: “Tariffs not only impose immense economic costs but also fail to achieve their primary policy aims and foster political dysfunction along the way.”

All proceeds from sales of the shirts go toward financial education programmes.