Trump has made clear where he stands on the trade-off between moderate inflation effects and more manufacturing jobs. That stance goes against trade orthodoxies, but it’s not a catastrophe for U.S. consumers. Indeed, the results of the experiment Bongiorni tried in 2005 may not be as dire in 2019 or 2020, if the tariffs stick around; the sentiment that inspired the journalist to forgo Chinese goods is still widespread, so perhaps making it easier to do without “made in China” isn’t such a terrible idea.
Leonid Bershidsky is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics and business. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.