There are actually two things I don't get in Buchanan's recent article.
I understand the following, up to the part that is italicized/bolded
Buchanan:
“Does Senator Flake [who does not want the tariffs] think Japan rose to post-war preeminence through free trade, as Tokyo kept U.S. products out, while dumping cars, radios, TVs and motorcycles here to kill the industries
of the nation that was defending them.” [??]
Which nation was defending which nation? The US had just ended a brutal WAR with Japan, so the US (post WWII) was not “defending” Japan, right?
Does Mr B know something I don't? Well, he knows all kinds of stuff I don't; I don't have a PhD, as presumably Buchanan does.
He is usually easy to understand...
So anyhow...
Then Buchanan says that “Both Nixon and Reagan had to devalue the dollar [emphasis added] to counter the predatory trade policies of Japan.”
I want to know how Nixon and Reagan did this, how they “devalued the dollar”?
[“Inquiring minds want to know”... and this inquiring mind is too lazy and too cheap (also, too conservative) to go to college]