Ambassadors as Tariff Defenders

When political appointees who once opposed tariffs assume diplomatic posts they may publicly promote the administration’s protectionist trade policies, even when those policies are linked to factory closures and job losses in their former constituencies. That dynamic turns embassies into domestic economic actors advocating controversial industrial policy rather than neutral interlocutors. — This reframes diplomatic appointments as levers of domestic industrial policy and accountability — raising questions about role fidelity, political hypocrisy, and who bears the costs of protectionism.