Tell your average Republican member of Congress that President Trump has said or done something racist or flagrantly authoritarian and you're likely to get a response of stony silence. But mention the administration's policy of imposing aluminum tariffs and this same GOP member of Congress is likely to sputter with indignation about the foolishness of the president's trade policy.
Aside from showing us what really matters (and what doesn't) to the GOP, the difference in reactions points to something exceedingly rare in this highly polarized moment: a remarkably broad, bipartisan consensus in favor of free trade and open markets. Ask nearly any economist, most Democrats, an overwhelming majority of Republicans, and heads of state throughout much of the West and around the world, as well as the leadership of the European Union, and most of them will agree that a world with freer trade is vastly preferable to a world filled with trade barriers.
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