George Rebane
My tariff laments are on record in these pages. I am not alone in my consternation about how the administration is conducting this part of our nation's economy. CATO scholar Scott Lincicome sums up President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’
Trump's reciprocal tariffs:
1) Impose hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes on Americans without public/congressional input;
2) Are based on secret calculations that have little, if any, connection to actual foreign trade barriers;
3) Ignore all US tariff/non-tariff barriers, which in some cases are quite high;
4) Are justified by a "national emergency" that reflects a total misunderstanding of how trade deficits work;
5) Disregard US trade agreement commitments, including ones made by Trump himself;
6) Will make us all poorer, and likely do real & lasting harm to the US economy (incl in manufacturing);
7) Embolden our adversaries around the world.
And those are just the ones off the top of my head.
[13apr25 update] For those interested in a more scholarly and complete explanation of why balancing trade deficits is wrongheaded and harmful, here is a short paper – ‘Five Reasons Why the Focus on Trade Deficits is Misleading’ – from the Peterson Institute for International Economics written during Trump’s first term go-around with tariffs. All of it is valid today.
rebanesruminations.com 
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