Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 1: When Cromwell Meets the Red Tie: How 17th‑Century Mercantilists Would Read Trump's Tariffs

This episode imagines how the architects of England's 17th‑century Navigation Acts—Cromwellian and Restoration officials and theorists like Thomas Moon—would interpret Donald Trump’s 21st‑century tariff policies.

They would recognize the mercantilist instincts in Trump’s rhetoric—trade as power, suspicion of deficits, and protection of national interest—but note crucial differences: the Navigation Acts were systemic, enforced by naval power, and built around a bullion economy and long horizons, whereas modern tariffs are targeted, reactive, and operate within globalized supply chains and fiat finance.

Ultimately, the episode argues these historical theorists would admire the intent but see Trump’s approach as “mercantilism without empire”—the right impulse lacking the institutional machinery and long‑term strategy that once made such policies transformative.