Those people who said we shouldn’t sign the Trans-Pacific-Partnerships must be happy that America has finally freed itself from the tyranny of being able to buy stuff from other countries.

Joining TPP made us part of a non-tariff bloc comprising 34% of global trade. The US comprises 15%. We are better placed than the Heard and McDonald Islands, which have been singled out for tariffs despite having a population of no-one but rock-hopper penguins.

If I buy a packet of freshly baked hot cross buns for $5, then the US logic says I would be better off if I charged myself $10 for them.

But tariffs might not be inflationary. Following the US stock market crash in 1929. President Herbert Hoover signed into law the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. Trading partners suffered reduced output, and so did the United States. “The Smoot-Hawley tariff ignited an international trade war and helped sink our country into the Great Depression,” President Ronald Reagan said in 1986.

It is foolhardy to believe this will all blow over in four years and normality will be restored.

Read Josie's Post column about America's trade craziness.