Why is the Trump administration levying tariffs? The administration and its supporters have floated mutually-exclusive reasons for these policies, making the confusion worse.

In many cases, however, tariff proponents attempt to argue on all these fronts at once—despite the contradictory nature of doing so—beginning with one argument and retreating to another once faced with sound economic reasoning. This can be quite frustrating for proponents of free trade, as it begins to feel less like a coherent case and more like a moving target, with justifications shifting to whatever feels most defensible in the moment.