Donald Trump’s trade war is fast turning into a fiasco. When the president started the war, Team Trump advertised it as certain to be fast, easy, and cheap. Trump would impose tariffs. The world would yield to his will.

The tariffs would do everything at once. They would protect U.S. industry from foreign competition without raising prices, and generate vast revenues that would finance other tax cuts. Americans could eat their cake, continue to have the cake, and trade the same cake for pie—all at the same time. “There’s not going to be any pain for American workers,” Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, vowed in April.

The advertising rapidly proved false. The U.S. economy is slowing because of the Trump tariffs; China’s is thriving in spite of them. Team Trump falsely promotes va

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