Markets, newsmakers, and anti-Trump noise makers are jabbering – filling hearts with fear, criticism, and confusion – over Trump’s tariffs. Let’s quiet the room, talk facts. They are smart.

First, definitions. A “tariff” is just a “tax on imports.” Tariffs are one way nations rebalance trade, protect their businesses and workers. Other ways include subsidies, credits, and tax breaks, ownership by government (taking costs away), setting quotas and high import standards, demanding access to trade secrets or intellectual property, and  – in communist countries – putting a fake (usually lower) value on their currency (forcing more money to be paid to them).

Honestly, the ways a country can favor their own are endless, including under-the-table refunds, debt forgiveness, and forced bribes – which keep honest companies out of those foreign markets.

Having said this, people use shorthand for “open” or “closed” economies. Economists confusingly often call all trade barriers “tariffs.”  Using that definition, a look at Trump’s strategy is revealing.

He is the first president in many decades to take a hard look at how America is treated, country by country, on “tariffs,” trade restrictions, and barriers – and then try to make it more fair.

If you look at the charts, you see that America, while not an entirely free market, is a relatively “open” market, while most of the world is a relatively “closed” market, quick to tax imports.

In effect, what Trump is doing, for starters, is saying: “Stop asking easy access to US markets, while restricting US companies from easy access to your markets.” The charts are vivid.

From Lesotho and Laos – a communist country we give millions in aid, on top of access to our markets – to big trade partners, China, Mexico, and Canada, we are far more generous. See, Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs – The White House.

The unofficial “ask” by President Trump of highly protective countries is: Drop your trade barriers, and we will. Until then, you pay for access to our markets. Trade imbalances reflect unfairness.

What else? Trump’s tariffs produce long-term benefits, even as they elevate prices in the near term. What benefits? They will cause American goods to be cheaper, so Americans “Buy American.” They encourage US companies overseas to say, “Whoa, I will have no tariffs if I return home, set up factories and hire Americans,” so big capital and jobs come home.

What else? Beyond incentivizing foreign countries to be open, getting jobs and capital back – the supply chain gets more efficient as production of components comes home. Americans can make anything – so expect new jobs and job training, both spurs to future growth.

Almost undiscussed, yet vital, is America’s overdependence – a big failure – on foreign countries for what defense needs, and specific overdependence on China for life-and-death pharmaceuticals.

So, in addition to insisting on fairness, bringing capital and jobs home, creating efficiencies in the supply chain, Trump’s tariffs improve national security – citizen confidence that if we need something, guns to semiconductors to pharmaceuticals, we will have it – because we make it.

One last advantage – which reduces our national debt and spurs growth – is often missed. What Trump has done is send a signal to foreign trading partners that taking advantage of America’s market, world’s largest, is done.

He has also created intentional volatility. Why is that good? Volatility drives investors from stocks to bonds. If it happens fast enough, the rush on bonds creates lower bond yields, as they sell at lower yields. Why does that matter? Because the US has a major debt refinancing in June, $6.5 trillion as of now. If yields fall, refinancing is far easier, and the US taxpayer will be the beneficiary.

Anything else? Yes. These tariffs are temporary, will spike prices, then spike wages, which will stay high once tariffs come off. The average worker will see a net gain as foreign trade barriers fall, supply chains shorten, people “Buy American,” and national security and self-reliance rise. Sometimes, pain produces growth. Sometimes what looks frightening is smart.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).