Reason Magazine
•Business
Business & Economics
Milton Friedman disproved Trump's argument for tariffs decades ago
Summary
Nutrition label
72% Informative
Rep. Madeleine Dean pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about President Donald Trump 's "chaotic tariff policy" Dean is not quite right: We can grow bananas in the U.S. , just not very well or very cheaply.
In 2023 , the US imported over 5 million metric tonnes of bananas, totaling over $2 billion , while only producing about 3,500 metric tonnes .
VR Score
81
Informative language
81
Neutral language
51
Article tone
semi-formal
Language
English
Language complexity
50
Offensive language
not offensive
Hate speech
not hateful
Attention-grabbing headline
not detected
Known propaganda techniques
not detected
Time-value
short-lived
External references
15
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/howard-lutnick-trump-trade-agenda-messaging-75d84e01?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=ASWzDAhcn-Z-7P2Wy8_mF4W3eo-QWBRkdb4XZQCTcRuoFQjTuYtfMH2thxgQb9bC63g%3D&gaa_ts=6841e510&gaa_sig=G6ciVmvUMOJ7mgeYf_pF4e0TypLYwP94jbvVFJaN91_TvqS4eTxGPgvkX9RbE2ocAauGEHMLwuXMxVBFN10FMw%3D%3Dhttps://ourworldindata.org/grapher/banana-production?mapSelect=~USAhttps://www.developmentaid.org/news-stream/post/165656/top-10-banana-producing-countrieshttps://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000711211https://x.com/atrupar/status/1930282145047581145https://insteading.com/blog/growing-bananas/https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/560972a9-e34d-44f5-9079-fc1551e0fd69/contenthttps://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111https://www.cbsnews.com/video/lutnick-congresswoman-clash-over-tariffs-banana-prices-house-hearing/https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/29/cnbc-transcript-united-states-commerce-secretary-howard-lutnick-speaks-with-cnbcs-brian-sullivan-on-the-exchange-today.htmlhttps://www.thepacker.com/news/produce-crops/banana-imports-rise-volume-and-valuehttps://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FE901https://youtu.be/j0pl_FXt0eM?si=zxyrtqwdq67hYJMZ&t=271https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/04/business/steel-aluminum-tariffs-doubled-trumphttps://hartley-botanic.com/magazine/growing-bananas-greenhouse/
Source diversity
14