What Jimmy Carter's "Footwear Task Force" Can Teach Us About Trump's Steel and Aluminum Tariffs

The uproar over President Trump's steel and aluminum tariff pronouncements has been a di(C)ji vu moment for me. Early on in the Jimmy Carter administration, I was an economist for the U.S. Department of Labor and a member of the administration's "Footwear Task Force" committee. The committee was implicitly charged with honoring Carter's campaign promise to grant import relief to American shoe producers.