Tariffs Make Smuggling Tempting for Wealthy US Travelers: Essay

For as long as borders have existed, people have been going to great lengths to smuggle things across them.

An extreme example is the Ontario man who in 2014 taped 51 live turtles to his lap and legs, then drove across the US-Canada border. Caught later by investigators after trying to ship the turtles for sale in China, the 27-year-old admitted his crime in a Michigan federal courtroom, where he was convicted of six counts and ordered to pay more than $17,000 in restitution.

While the turtle trafficker’s methods and motive were unusual, he fit a familiar pattern. A ...