Imagine Theodore Roosevelt reading today's tariff headlines with a scowl and a checklist: yes to power, no to posturing. He liked using state tools to shape markets, but only if there was a clear plan, real investment at home, and antitrust teeth to stop tariffs from just padding corporate pockets.

Roosevelt would respect the idea of leverage and reciprocity, but he’d demand specifics: what are you trying to build, who benefits, and where’s the institutional muscle — schools, factories, research, and fair competition — to back it up? Tariffs without that work are theater, and TR hated theater.

So his verdict? Use the stick, by all means, but aim it, prepare for the consequences, and make sure it disciplines power instead of protecting it. In short: dare mighty things — but do them competently.