This Question Could Change the Course of Trump’s Trade war — if Only we Would ask it
Are Trump’s tariffs ethical? By any measure, no — but here’s how they could be.
The Trump administration’s significant shift in U.S. tariff policy has roiled international markets with its severity and on-again-off-again nature. Recent legal challenges disrupted President Donald Trump’s trade strategy, so his administration has moved swiftly to overturn them.
Regardless of how the courts rule, there are serious doubts about whether such tariffs are ethical. Tariffs fail justice due to their inequities. They use people as a means to an end and erode the United States’ global standing.
Ann Skeet, Ethics Center senior director, leadership ethics, and Adina Ardelean, Ethics Center faculty scholar and teaching professor, economics at the Leavey School of Business published by MarketWatch.