OPINION:
The recent market fluctuations and associated angst about the global economic fallout has overshadowed the benefits of levies against China. Goldman Sachs predicts a contraction in China’s GDP as a result of the U.S. tariffs. But there is another benefit as well. Striking the Chinese manufacturing sector in the guts is a solid step toward reducing the deaths of American children from fentanyl, a lethal drug heavily dependent on China’s industrial plants, which manufacture the chemical binder for this pill.
Though there obviously are no tariffs on China’s exports of illegal drugs to the U.S., any strike at China’s manufacturing sector will have the domino effect of weakening its illegal drug production and distribution. So in addition to helping American workers who have been habitually displaced by Chinese laborers, Trump’s tariffs augur well for our children.
And there’s yet another benefit. Children are being sex-trafficked in the family courts in cities where the illegal drug trade is most active, as those courts have been infiltrated by Chinese cartels and traffickers. If we reduce the flow of illicit drugs, we reduce the presence of these cartels and traffickers.
This is more than a trade war; this is a spiritual war between good and evil. President Trump understands that. He sees the larger picture and so should we.
AMY NEUSTEIN
Author, “From Madness to Mutiny”
Fort Lee, New Jersey
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