I recently shared with you a case study of the challenges of companies selling a “brand” linked to a cultural or political ideal favored by some, but not by others involving the Harley-Davidson company.
By coincidence, there was an editorial soon thereafter using Harley-Davidson as a case study in the efficacy and implicitly, the morality, of tariffs.
Tariffs are most closely associated, in my mind, with mercantilism, not an open system of moral capitalism. When the first meeting of the Caux Round Table was convened at Mountain House in Caux, Switzerland, in 1986, the subject was, in effect, mercantilism and national industrial policies of the U.S., right or wrong, will raise barriers against importing goods from other countries.
The group resolved that, in the long run, competition was best for all, as markets expanded in size and the most innovation and efficient producers were to be rewarded, no matter their nationality.
Here is the editorial from the Wall Street Journal.