Erratic tariff policy is alienating our allies, weakening exactly the coalition we’d need to address Beijing’s behavior.

In a recent Wall Street Journal piece, I argued that erratic tariff policy has alienated our allies and that the world is increasingly building trade relationships that don’t require American participation. Days later, a Letter to the Editor was published responding to it.

I’ll confess that finding so much common ground with someone of Max Meizlish’s caliber is both flattering and, given the state of trade policy discourse, genuinely refreshing. We agree on the core argument, we agree on the facts, and we want the same thing: a more secure and prosperous United States. That said, there are differences worth spelling out. I’ll go through the letter paragraph by paragraph, which I recognize can look combative, but isn’t meant to be.

David Hebert writes that the world is growing tired of the US and “reglobalizing around partners who commit to rules rather than those who wield tariffs like a club” (“Everyone Else Is Trading Without Us,” op-ed, Feb. 27). It’s a fair observation, but his piece avoids addressing the threat from China.

“Avoid” is a strong word. I didn’t “avoid” addressing China because “addressing China” wasn’t relevant to the thesis of my piece: that inconsistent, erratic tariff policy and the sudden reneging on past agreements have alienated our friends.

Meizlish continued, noting the collapse in imports from China — with a crucial caveat.

Recent Commerce Department data adds crucial context. American imports from China collapsed by nearly 30 percent in 2025 while European flows into the US grew. Notwithstanding the real potential of Chinese goods making their way into the US by way of Europe, that looks less like American isolation than the beginnings of a reorientation Washington has been trying to engineer.

It’s on the issue of transshipment where I part ways with Meizlish. He acknowledges that transshipment — for example, China routing goods to the United States through Europe — is a real possibility, then quickly moves past it. But this is a serious and well-documented problem, serious enough that the Department of Justice has created a Trade Fraud Task Force.

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