White-haired, old-school Democrat, Daniel dropped a newspaper on the table beside Dillon, sat down.

Young, cocky, brash, Trump Republican, Dillon pointed at the newspaper headline, baited Daniel. ‘Trump’s right. We’re getting shafted. Tariffs put a stop to rip-offs.’

Leaning back I asked: ‘Hitting China with tariffs sounds fine – but what about Canada? They’ve been our friends a long time.’

Dillon laughed a harsh mocking laugh. ‘If they’re our friend they wouldn’t be ripping us off.’

Pointing to the newspaper headline, Daniel put Dillon on the spot. ‘Trump says the same thing you said – but it’s a hoax. That article spells it out in black and white. It shows Trump’s tariffs weren’t ‘reciprocal.’ He didn’t base a single tariff on how much other nations tariff us. He based his tariffs on a different fact: Trade imbalances. Look at Switzerland – it sells us a lot of pharmaceuticals. Trump saw that trade imbalance so he hit Switzerland with a huge tariff. A higher tariff than they charge us. That isn’t ‘reciprocal.’

Daniel turned sideways in his chair. ‘Trump also ignored another fact: Services. The Swiss buy a lot more services – like technologies – from us than we buy from them. Trump ignored the money the Swiss pay us for services. Those payments lower our trade imbalance with Switzerland. That makes Trump’s tariff even more off-kilter.

‘Here’s a simpler example: Australia buys more from us than we buy from them. We don’t have a trade deficit with Australia. We have a surplus. So why did Trump hit Australia with a ‘reciprocal’ tariff?’

Dillon’s lips set. ‘You can’t believe what you read in the newspapers. Trump’s right – China’s ripping us off.’

I asked: ‘So is Trump fixing an injustice – or is he making deals to squeeze money out of our friends’ pockets?

Dillon laughed. ‘Either way works out for me.’

Driving back to my office after lunch, I stared up at a cloudy gray sky. I’ve heard Republicans say for years tariffs are a tax. They take money out of people’s pockets and give it to the government. We did fine when we had free trade. Will we do better under tariffs? That gambit sounds risky. But I’m no economist. The answer’s a mystery to me. But Trump’s dead set on tariffs and he’s got Congress under his thumb – so I guess we’re going to find out.

(This is a story – it’s true but not literally.)

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Telling stories, in his memoir Carter Wrenn follows The Trail of the Serpent twisting and turning through politics from Reagan to Trump. Order his book from Amazon.