When Donald Trump was president he instituted a number of import tariffs, on friends and foe alike from Asia, Europe and North America. They created chaos, their costs were eventually paid for by consumers and their stated goal of returning manufacturing to the United States never was realistic…nor successful.
Now, as he runs for president again he is talking about another round of tariffs that would once more throw the global marketplace into turmoil and potentially create enormous costs for American importers – and subsequently for American consumers.
Welcome to Trump 2.0.
In discussing his plans for his trade policy last year, he called for an across-the-board 10 percent duty “for everybody,” according to a recent report from Inc.com. “When companies come in they dump their products in the United States, they should pay, automatically, let’s say a 10 percent tax,” Inc.com quotes him saying. “I do like the 10 percent for everybody.”
If this sounds like another poorly thought-out, vaguely researched and off-the-top-of-his-head policy proposal coming from Trump it’s probably because it is. There doesn’t appear to be any studies into how this might impact the overall economy, but instead seems to be yet another piece of red meat for his nationalistic, anti-global supporters.
Instead of helping the American economy, the American Action Forum – which Inc. said describes itself as a “center-right” organization — estimates such a move would cut “GDP 0.31 percent annually or $62 billion” a year. The cost to American consumers would be far worse, “with U.S. welfare decreasing by $123.3 billion.”
We are still feeling the aftershocks of Trump’s trade policies from the time he was president in ways both subtle and profound. If he were to be elected again, they would seem to be nothing compared to what havoc he could cause next.
WarrensReport 