So how can Republicans support Trump’s tariffs? How can we reject free trade?  

The answer is because free trade isn’t free. It’s not remotely free. The cost has always been expensive, suicidally so now.  

What’s enabled free trade is the so-called Pax Americana, the international stability and prosperity unknown since the Pax Romana 2,000 years ago. Much of the world has enjoyed this since the end of World War II; all of the world has enjoyed it since the end of the Cold War.  

We’ve enjoyed free trade so long we’ve forgotten that it is the exception to the human experience, not the rule. The historical standard has been piracy and war over shipping lines, but American generosity changed that. As global strategist Peter Zeihan writes, “The Americans didn’t simply outlaw conflict among their allies; the Americans guarded all global shipping as it if it were their own internal commerce, ushering transport into an age of utterly inexpensive sanctity.”  

 Now Americans overwhelmingly benefited from it for a very long time, whether it was access to inexpensive electronics or exotic fruits. So did the rest of the world. The problem is that none of the rest of the world has helped pay for it.  

 The United States spends more than $800 billion annually on defense, providing for many things including our 750 military installations worldwide. About $255 billion of that is for our unbeatable Navy which has kept the waters safer than at any time in human history, enabling all that “free” trade. Our Navy is so generous we even protect our enemies. As the “Look at me, I’m the captain now” Somalian pirate bragged to Captain Phillips, “Navy good. They protect us.” 

 Internal critics rail that the US spends more on defense than the next nine countries combined – as though the world would be safer if we didn’t. Yes, it would be nice if our NATO allies paid their fair share to their own defense. It would be great if Arab nations would pay to help us keep the Strait of Hormuz peaceful instead of to build their absurd mega-projects. We’d all love it if other developed countries helped pay for the United Nations, so we didn’t have to fund one-quarter of its budget.  

 It would be even better if our enemies could accept the Pax Americana instead of declaring war on it. Life is better for China, Russia, and others under our umbrella than it is out in the rain on their own. But our international adversaries don’t agree, out of arrogance or jealousy or outright hatred.  

 Thanks to the Pax Americana, 171 million were lifted out of extreme poverty in India in the last 10 years. One would think India would be grateful to us, and instead they want to join China, Russia, and others in attacking the US dollar. China doesn’t just want to attack the dollar, they want to sink our battleships. The Qataris spend their massive oil wealth – which again they only enjoy because our Navy patrols the Gulf – to fund terrorism against us!  

 While it’s one thing for benign foreign powers to take the Pax Americana for granted, it’s another thing entirely for us to enable those who want to overthrow our world order. The question is not why America First Republicans following President Trump are so mean with issues like tariffs, the better question is why are we still being so nice? 

 “Free” trade has always been expensive, but until recently it was mostly affordable. It’s not anymore. An overtaxed family of four in Utah would rather buy a home than pay to enable indulgent Arabs’ preposterous vanity projects. Economic freedom has alas not created habits of liberty among too many hostile foreign powers, as malignant actors like Vladimir Putin have shown by rejecting the Golden Arches theory. If we continue to subsidize “free” trade for ungrateful or even hostile powers, it will cost us the future.  

 Jared Whitley is a longtime DC politico, having worked for Sen. Orrin Hatch and the White House. He has an international MBA from Hult Business School in Dubai and was named best columnist by the Top of the Rockies competition in 2024.