Trump’s proposed tariffs are a gift to the rich
Research shows that middle-class US households would foot the bill
WASHINGTON, DC – The heart of Donald Trump’s proposed economic policies are big new tariffs on all goods imported into the United States. The former US president claims that tariffs will protect jobs, increase wages, and usher in a new era of American prosperity. Apparently convinced that he has found an economic panacea, Trump proudly calls himself the “Tariff Man”.
But a tariff is just a fancy name for a tax imposed on people who buy imported goods (and anything produced domestically using imported inputs), so the Trump proposal would squeeze all American households, with a particularly harsh impact on working people with lower incomes. Even if these tariffs do not plunge the world into a self-destructive trade war, US trade partners would likely retaliate – and that will hurt everyone who works in America’s successful and high-productivity export sector.
Trump has a degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and so should know how tariffs work. Admittedly, he graduated in 1968, but the analysis of tariffs was well understood 50 years ago – and the basic facts remain the same.
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