Trump Rules by Breaking the Rules

Over the past week - indeed, over the past year - U.S. President Donald Trump has broken one political rule after another. "When I signed up to be a conservative," an eminent Washington think-tanker said to me on Thursday, "I thought conservatism stood for free trade, fiscal responsibility and personal character." He might have added some firmness towards dictators.

In fairness to Mr. Trump, he is not the first Republican president to impose tariffs on imports, to run a very large budget deficit and to agree to meet a Communist Tyrant. (I'm pretty sure he's the first to be sued by a porn star, but let's leave Stormy Daniels out of this.) Both Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford imposed tariffs in the name of national security. Both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush ran substantial fiscal deficits. And if Mr. Trump goes to Pyongyang, there will be an unmistakable echo of Mr. Nixon's famous trip to Beijing in 1072.

Nevertheless, there is a near-universal consensus among political commentators that Mr. Trump is breaking all the rules. By announcing tariffs of 25 per cent on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminum, he not only will hurt all those sectors of the U.S. economy that depend on those imports, but also risks plunging the world into a protectionist trade war.