Trump's tariffs have shaken the West to its core. They have been met with widespread condemnation as economically illiterate, but tariffs can work, as can free trade, and this story is as far from black and white as possible. Dmitry Grozoubinski, former Australian trade negotiator and diplomat, argues that politicians and journalists have done us a disservice by simplifying tariffs and trade deals into meaningless sound bites. In trade, there are no universal truths, and if we are to have a grown up discussion of global trade, lofty ideals and easy lies can only take us so far.
As a young and naive government official just starting out in public service, I kept expecting to stumble across what I thought of as ‘the Room’. In my mind, somewhere in the machinery was a glorious chamber full of experts, synthesizing information from a hundred sources, with the latest academic findings at their fingertips and data scrolling on their screens. This hypercompetent chamber is where I imagined policy was crafted, debated, refined and honed - steered by the strategic vision of elected leaders.
To be sure, there are policy areas where this isn’t too far from the truth. The people balancing the electrical grid or planning military operations seem to have rooms like this. It just turns out that as soon as a policy area becomes politicised, nuance and expertise take a back seat. Half the time the government is just kind of doing stuff, chasing the media cycle, responding to squeaky wheels or effective lobbyists and generally making it up as they go along. There are certainly very serious and highly capable people involved, but they aren’t always heeded and often get shouted down if the public conversation is flowing in a different direction.
I say this not to dampen enthusiasm for government or build cynicism - but to stress that how we talk about things, and how we allow our political leaders to frame questions, matters far more than it should - even outside election years or referendums.
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