Every cloud, we’re told, has a silver lining. So, as markets plunged and industrialists groaned under the weight of President Trump’s destructive new tariffs, I hoped this mistake might at least discredit protectionism for a generation.

Trump’s reckless trade wars didn’t spring from nowhere. They were seeded by popular economic myths that politicians — even here in Britain — sometimes irresponsibly indulge. Platitudes such as “we don’t make things any more” and “it’s better to buy domestic” fed the logic Trump used to justify tariffs as salvation. He simply carried those clichés to their most destructive logical conclusion.

Some ex-politicians have already shown contrition for nurturing such myths. On his Political Currency podcast, the former chancellor George Osborne acknowledged that his own pledge of a UK “march of the makers” manufacturing renaissance was fantasy. Britain, he now admits, naturally evolved towards higher-value services driven by our comparative advantages. Promising mass industrial employment in northern towns was never realistic — it was nostalgia-driven populism, ignoring both the capital-intensive nature of modern manufacturing and its relative decline globally.

Yet, in contrast to this rare moment of honesty, our current leaders are passing up the opportunity to speak plain economic truths. Given America’s dramatic self-harm, you’d expect British leaders to explain forcefully why our own retaliatory tariffs would be self-defeating. In fact, given the sharp market reaction, you might even have hoped one or two would use this as a moment for rethinking whether our current array of tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and “Buy British” rules leave us poorer than we could be.

Instead, the reaction has been depressingly muted. Yes, the Labour government has commendably resisted calls for escalating the trade war so far, declaring that “nobody wins” from one — a sentiment Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, has echoed when asked about retaliation.

Yet both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats haven’t been able to resist dalliances with soft nationalism. Badenoch recently declared, “I think we should always buy British.” The Lib Dems have even launched a twee “Buy British” campaign, complete with videos of Sir Ed Davey dancing. That party, of course, wants retaliatory tariffs co-ordinated with the EU and Commonwealth.

This “buy domestic” sentiment, though, is little more than a polite echo of Trump’s “America First” agenda. Framing domestic consumption as virtuous implies imports are somehow lesser, or else damaging. This is the fallacy that, when mixed with politics, drives inefficient procurement practices, food nationalism, and, yes, destructive tariffs. Davey and Badenoch, consciously or not, are legitimising Trump’s logic.

And we can expect calls to protect British firms to grow. As Trump’s tariffs bite, goods previously destined for the US will be seeking new markets — including the UK. Gavin Rice, a former Conservative special adviser, is testing an argument that others will repeat, warning that Britain risks becoming a “dumping ground for global surpluses seeking markets now (and savings that need to be absorbed elsewhere).” To echo one journalist: cheaper T‑shirts and lower gilt yields — the horror!

Facetious? Yes. Nobody in Britain asked for this disruption and big, sudden changes to tariffs bring abrupt, painful adjustments. These chilling effects are compounded given Trump’s endpoint is unclear. His tariffs have been variously sold as temporary negotiating tools, permanent industrial policy, tax revenue sources, and China correctives. Companies dependent on foreign imports, or facing foreign competition, don’t know what to expect next.

My point is: we shouldn’t write-off Trump’s economic vandalism as merely about personal recklessness, rather than being rooted in commonly held misconceptions. The idea that importing goods makes us weaker, self-sufficiency enhances resilience, or manufacturing’s decline can be reversed through protectionism — these aren’t harmless illusions. They are fuel for destructive policies.

Until mainstream British politicians find the courage to confront these myths head-on, we’ll be vulnerable to damaging retaliation and our own future protectionist demagoguery. Trump’s error must prompt deeper reflection — or else we risk leaving fertile ground for our own future folly.