I voted for Trump. His tariff exclusions don’t reflect conservative strength

It was a sweltering day both in temperature and temperament when a businessman president signed a tariff bill that Henry Ford famously called “economic stupidity.” When President Herbert Hoover enacted what would become the country’s last major experiment with protectionism, in the form of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, Ford and over a thousand economists warned against crafting economic policy out of fear rather than strength.

Fast forward to today. Millions of Americans enthusiastically voted for President Donald Trump, including myself, because he promised to restore American strength by unleashing innovation and industry to lead the world. That vision remains compelling. But tariffs do not project strength; they signal decline. This week’s GDP first quarter contraction announcement is a relevant example, as businesses hold on to capital amid trade uncertainty.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce just asked the White House for a “tariff exclusion process” in order to prevent a recession. They asked to automatically lift tariffs on all small business importers and on all products that “cannot be produced in the U.S.” or are not domestically available.

The Jones Act of 1920 is a clear example of how protectionism stifles growth. Enacted to preserve national security by supporting a domestic shipbuilding base, it now functions as a drag on economic dynamism. The law drives up transportation costs by requiring that goods moved between U.S. ports be carried on American-built, -owned, and -crewed ships, especially in non-contiguous states and territories like Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska. U.S.-built vessels cost up to five times more than foreign-built ships, making domestic shipbuilding globally uncompetitive.

A 2020 Cato Institute analysis found that the U.S. accounts for less than 1% of global commercial shipbuilding. Instead of catalyzing innovation, the Jones Act locks in inefficiency, shrinks market competition, and raises costs across entire supply chains. This isn’t just a protectionist relic; it’s a lasting threat to our economy and sovereignty.

Republicans have long opposed tariffs not out of blind loyalty to free-market doctrine but because they’ve seen firsthand damage from the Jones Act and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930. It didn’t protect workers, it punished them. It shattered supply chains, destroyed exports and helped turn a recession into a depression.

The Plymouth Cordage Company, once the world’s largest rope manufacturer, serves as a cautionary tale. Founded in 1824, it grew into a major employer and industrial innovator. But, its margins collapsed when Smoot-Hawley imposed tariffs on imported fibers like sisal and manila. The company struggled to adapt and was eventually acquired in the 1950s. The broader industry shrank by half in the five years following Smoot-Hawley.

Free innovation and trade have long been the engine of American prosperity. Economist Robert Solow estimated that technological progress accounts for over 80% of long-term U.S. per capita income growth. Entirely new industries from cloud computing to biotech have emerged from this shift. The U.S. leads the world in service exports, with a growing surplus driven by intellectual property, finance, and technology. Despite comprising less than 5% of the world’s population, Americans generate over 20% of global income. Our strength comes not from isolation but from integration with the global economy and a relentless capacity to innovate.

The industrial re-shoring President Trump rightly champions doesn’t require tariff-based affirmative action or a return to outdated models. It requires the same bold innovation we saw in Operation Warp Speed. Or the market-driven energy revolution of the 1970s, when the U.S. responded to crisis not by retreating but by unlocking domestic capacity. In 1977, the U.S. imported 46.5% of its petroleum. Today, we are net energy exporters. That’s what American strength looks like.

Tariffs don’t just harm industry; they jeopardize the nation’s ability to address its most urgent economic challenge: the federal deficit.

For 70 years, the U.S. has enjoyed extraordinary fiscal privilege as issuer of the world’s reserve currency. That status created what was effectively a limitless credit card. It enabled the nation to fight two wars while cutting taxes and bailing out the economy during the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 without triggering a collapse in investor confidence. But now, the limits of that privilege are being tested.

Debt has surpassed $36 trillion, and interest payments are projected to soon exceed the entire defense budget. Left unaddressed and compounded by demographic shifts, this trend will undermine the country’s ability to respond to the next crisis.

Businesses aren’t revived from default by cost-cutting alone. You have to innovate and grow. The same principle applies nationally. Pro-growth, pro-investment policies, not protectionist barriers, are what drive innovation, rebuild industrial strength and restore fiscal sustainability.

The president’s decision to pause new tariffs was a step in the right direction. However, the recent statements about complicated tariff exclusions is no way to govern. Businesses still face deep uncertainty. No company can commit to long-term investments when its cost structure may shift every 90 days. That kind of volatility discourages hiring, delays expansion and weakens the very growth the country needs to outpace its debt.

President Trump has a bold vision for a new golden age of American strength. That vision is within reach, but only if the country doubles down on the innovation, investment and fiscal responsibility that President Trump campaigned on.

Reviving American greatness means building forward, not looking backward. We win the future not by raising walls around our economy but by building and dominating industries that will define the next century.

Tanveer Kathawalla is the founder and managing partner of Pioneer1890, an Alexandria-based investment company. He is a graduate of George Washington University and has an MBA in finance from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.