Nice economy you have there, said President Donald Trumpa€™s administration. It would be a shame if something happened to it.
The something, announced earlier this week, is a set of globally applied tariffs that make no sense on their face. No sane economist would endorse this. Through a combination of stupidity, incompetence and sheer gangsterism, the Trump administration has decided to levy a series of taxes that encourage blatant corruption, entirely fail to encourage American manufacturing growth, and leave people and companies poorer. That is, assuming that the taxes come into play at all.
a€oeThis is the craziest of the crazy things wea€™ve seen thus far.a€
The central, persistent thing Trump seems to misunderstand about tariffs is that they are paid in the US by people in the US. A reasonable person might also remember that he tried them a few years ago in a trade war, to negative effect. We have, as a nation, shot ourselves in the dick. But dona€™t take my word for it! Here are some actual experts:
- a€oeThis is the craziest of the crazy things wea€™ve seen thus far,a€ says Chris Barrett, professor of economics at Cornell Universitya€™s SC Johnson School of Business. …
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