For decades, global elites dictated the parameters of international trade, mostly to benefit multinational corporations, not American workers. There was nothing “free” about such trade. Rather, it created a rigged system that invited foreign governments to impose tariffs and price controls while manipulating labor markets to flood our country with underpriced goods. All the while, the United States played by rules no one else followed. The result? Hollowed-out factories, lost jobs, and a middle class squeezed from every direction.
President Donald Trump saw the injustice and set out to fix it. His “America First” economic agenda isn’t about isolated tariffs or headline-making trade moves — it’s a broader economic realignment designed to put American workers, companies, and communities back at the center of national policy. While some well-meaning critics raise concerns about the cost of tariffs or the impact on global supply chains, these narrow analyses miss the forest for the trees.
Trump’s tariffs represent foundational tools within a comprehensive strategy to dismantle a broken system that favored multinational monopolies and foreign adversaries over American workers. These safeguards create space for U.S. small businesses to compete on a level playing field and protect our markets from foreign entities that employ predatory and nonreciprocal practices. This vision comes into focus as Trump and his team negotiate better trade deals for the American worker, starting with the United Kingdom.
In addition, the biased media misrepresents the larger vision, even beyond tariffs. Since taking office, Trump has secured trillions of dollars of investments into the U.S. that will directly power jobs and manufacturing. Most recently, on his first foreign trip to the Middle East, he locked in over $2 trillion in deals that will benefit the public. While former President Joe Biden failed to secure concessions from Nippon Steel as it seeks to acquire U.S. Steel, under Trump, it is already offering to invest another $14 billion into the U.S. These amounts are staggering!
Trump also uses antitrust policy to push back against foreign monopolies that threaten American industries. Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, Gail Slater, warns that “anti-competitive regulation can be co-opted by monopolies and their lobbyists, such that the state’s power actually amplifies, rather than diminishes, corporate power.” Slater and Trump understand that supposedly open markets need to be actually “free” in order to avoid U.S. scrutiny — and she’s ready to act.
Take the U.S. beer market as a tangible example. The EU monopoly Anheuser-Busch InBev didn’t gain its dominance in the U.S. market through free-market competition. It got there by gaming the system — controlling distribution channels and retail relationships to choke out competitors and dictate terms to the entire industry. While this EU monopolist already owned a significant share of the U.S. beer market, the company tried to establish a monopoly in this country by acquiring Grupo Modelo, which produces well-known brands such as Modelo and Corona that are brewed in Mexico and sold in the U.S.
Fortunately, the DOJ stepped in. It forced AB InBev to sell the U.S. rights for these brands, as well as a production facility in Mexico, to a U.S.-based competitor called Constellation Brands. The result? A vibrant domestic beer industry that supports over 2.4 million jobs and generates more than $470 billion in economic activity. Roughly 92% of those jobs are with wholesalers, craft breweries, local distributors, transportation providers, and the bars and restaurants that fuel Main Street America. That means nearly all the economic activity for these Mexican beers stays in the U.S. economy. Other great U.S.-based beer companies, such as the Boston Beer Company, Yuengling, and local craft breweries, are all benefiting from the increased competition.
This case is proof that a strong agenda focused on restoring a level global playing field can stop foreign monopolies from hollowing out U.S. markets. It also highlights the importance of picking the right personnel.
So, Trump’s tariffs are about accountability, enforcement, and defending the American worker. They’re part of a bigger vision to rebuild an economy where American labor, American capital, and American innovation get fair and equal treatment from foreign monopolies and otherwise unaccountable global interests. The old system, in which multinational elites wrote the rules and the public paid the price, is over.
TRUMP CALLS 50% TARIFF ON EUROPEAN UNION A ‘SUCCESS’ AFTER IT CALLED TO ‘QUICKLY’ DISCUSS TRADE
Trump’s tariffs represent an important first step toward reclaiming American economic sovereignty. They send a clear message: The U.S. will no longer tolerate foreign governments or global monopolies that cheat, manipulate, or exploit our markets. Whether it’s enforcing trade deals such as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement or blocking anticompetitive foreign takeovers, Trump is using every tool at his disposal to restore fairness and accountability.
He is rebuilding a Main Street-focused economic system in which American workers don’t just survive, they thrive. Where the rules are fair, the competition is real, and the rewards of prosperity flow back to the people who earn them. That’s the bigger vision. And it’s already underway.
Steve Cortes is president of the League of American Workers and senior political adviser to Catholic Vote. He is a former senior adviser to Trump and Vice President JD Vance and a former Fox News commentator.