What Would Rush Limbaugh Think About Donald Trump’s Tariffs?

Having been introduced to Rush Limbaugh by my father in early 1992, I was one of many of what are now popularly known as “Rush babies.”

I listened to Rush almost religiously for nearly 30 years and read all of his books and newsletters. Doing so proved more valuable than a K-12 public school education, four years of college, and two years of grad school. Yes, I am serious. 

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Four years after his passing, I know, almost beat-by-beat, what the free market Rush would have said about any given topic in the news today. But there is one big exception, and that has to do with tariffs and free trade. 

Nine years ago Donald Trump was elected president for his first term. Around this time, Rush, without publicly admitting it, evidently had a change of heart when it came to NAFTA. 

In the early 1990s, Rush supported NAFTA and free trade. By 2016, he seemed to walk back that support. By this time, Rush also seemed to support tariffs. 

NAFTA and tariffs are topics that not only divide conservatives but confuse them. Are tariffs in line with our concept of free trade? Can you support free trade but still push for laws that require more products get manufactured in the United States? Are people who buy products made overseas unpatriotic?

If a South Korean manufacturer makes better tires than Americans then Americans benefit if we can buy Korean tires. In such a scenario, maybe American tire manufacturers will work harder to keep up? And, in the end, competition makes everybody better. Right?

Conservatives struggle with these questions.

With that said, I’ve visited many towns that thrived before NAFTA came along. After NAFTA became law, the local manufacturers packed up and moved operations to Mexico or overseas for cheaper labor. Now those towns here in America are more or less dying. People who live there and have no jobs to pursue have fallen hard into drugs or alcohol. These towns are kept on life support only because the locals live off federal handouts and EBT cards.

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What are some of the other results of NAFTA and trading with other nations (our trade deficit notwithstanding)?

Every time we call customer service for help for any given product we end up talking to someone in the Far East who can barely speak English. People on both ends of the call have to shout and repeat themselves over and over again to make things clear to one another. 

And this takes us to the COVID-19 years. During a national and/or worldwide emergency, we learned that the imports we rely on take significantly longer to enter this country. 

We also learned that most of the medications we take to keep us healthy and alive are manufactured in China.

Think about it. 

We could eventually find ourselves in a military conflict with China. 

During the Civil War, General Sherman marched to the South to destroy railroads and burn crops. He deprived the South of food and other needed resources and more or less starved it into surrendering. 

To cripple the United States (and its allies), the Chinese Communist Party could easily discontinue all exports of medicine and other necessities.

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Many of my right-of-center friends are all about free trade and despise Trump’s tariffs. Other conservative friends love Trump’s tariffs and think NAFTA never should have been signed into law. 

I have mixed feelings.  

The only conclusions that I can come to are that:

(1) Necessities such as pharmaceuticals, energy resources, or materials we might not have access to during a military conflict should rightfully get manufactured here, regardless of whether we are at war or peace. . 

(2) If something is a luxury product, like a sports car or a television set, then let the foreigners compete with the Americans and see who comes out on top.

I cannot say this with 100% certainty, but, on this topic, I like to think that Rush and I would agree.     

Special thanks to Warhammer’s Wife for proofreading this story before publication to make certain there were no misspellings, grammatical errors or other embarrassing mistakes and/or typos. Follow Warhammer on X @Real_Warhammer. Read Warhammer’s stories on The Hayride by clicking here.