tariffs
Do tariffs do what they are imposed to do?
Taxes on imports: whether they close a trade deficit, what they do to prices, and what they are really for.
FilterEveryone, all time
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Their wordsIn fact, the U.S. trade deficit for all of 2025 was about the same as it was in 2024.
↗Attack of the Zombie Tariffspaulkrugman.substack.com 1st of 4 in this piece
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Our readingThe tariffs did not revive American manufacturing; employment in it fell after they were imposed.
Their wordsTrump also claimed that his tariffs would revive American manufacturing. In fact, manufacturing employment has declined since Liberation Day.
↗Attack of the Zombie Tariffspaulkrugman.substack.com 2nd of 4 in this piece
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Their wordsRevenue from the Trump tariffs, even pre-Court, wasn’t enough to make a large dent in the deficit.
↗Attack of the Zombie Tariffspaulkrugman.substack.com 3rd of 4 in this piece
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Their wordsIt has been clear from the beginning that a primary motivation for tariffs was that they empowered Trump personally.
↗Attack of the Zombie Tariffspaulkrugman.substack.com 4th of 4 in this piece
- 12 days earlier
- AV
Austin Vernon quoted
Their wordsThese end manufacturers (new and old) are vulnerable to tariffs on their inputs and they are the buyers that the "speed strategy" is relevant for.
↗Speed Can Reindustrialize Americaaustinvernon.site 9th of 15 in this piece
- AV
Austin Vernon quoted
Their wordsZero tariffs are the best way to help them.
↗Speed Can Reindustrialize Americaaustinvernon.site 10th of 15 in this piece
- 7 weeks earlier
- MH
Molson Hart quoted
Their wordsAmerica needs an educational and cultural transformation to compete with China and reverse the decline in living standards that Americans have suffered over decades.
↗Chinese Labor Isn't Just Cheaper; It’s Better. We Need to Fix That.molsonhart.com 4th of 4 in this piece
- 4 months earlier
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsIn terms of things that are causing us to lose to China, tariffs are neither here nor there because, as we've discussed, we're not sensitive to cost on power. But the environmental regulations that are actively preventing us from deploying renewable energy in the United States, like this is the reason Texas is winning. Texas is out deploying California 10 to1.
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 16th of 24 in this recording
- 2 days earlier
- KJ
Keyu Jin quoted
Their wordsTariffs, this kind of highly protectionist method is very distortionary and it’s going to be bad for the US. I’d actually argue that both China and the US have totally taken advantage and also enjoyed the global economic realm under the US liberal order.
↗Keyu Jin: China's Economy, Tariffs, Trade, Trump, Communism & Capitalism | Lex Fridman Podcast #477youtube.com 12th of 16 in this recording
- KJ
Keyu Jin quoted
Their wordsThe trade deficits have widened since Trump, right? They haven’t closed the imbalance with China and with the rest of the world because ultimately the US saves less than it invests. And that’s a macrophenomenon. It’s not a trade phenomenon
↗Keyu Jin: China's Economy, Tariffs, Trade, Trump, Communism & Capitalism | Lex Fridman Podcast #477youtube.com 13th of 16 in this recording
- 3 months earlier
- HR
Hannah Ritchie quoted
Their wordsThat’s because most clean energy jobs are in deployment and maintenance rather than manufacturing, and since higher costs slow down the rollout of renewables, increasing prices reduces the total number of people working in clean energy (even if the number working in manufacturing increases).
↗Why are solar panels and batteries from China so cheap?sustainabilitybynumbers.com 1st of 5 in this piece
- 4 weeks earlier
- JC
John H. Cochrane quoted
Their wordsTariffs are easy: The right answer is unilateral free trade.
↗Tariffs, saving, and investmentgrumpy-economist.com 1st of 6 in this piece
- JC
John H. Cochrane quoted
Our readingThe American trade deficit is foreigners choosing to invest in America, not America being cheated.
Their wordsthis story tells us how an increase in foreign demand to save in the US rather than at home will push up the dollar, and cause the trade deficit, which is in effect how foreigners send us factories which they would rather build here than in their own countries.
↗Tariffs, saving, and investmentgrumpy-economist.com 2nd of 6 in this piece
- JC
John H. Cochrane quoted
Their wordsBut the spike in interest rates require to do this would be huge. And the trade shock will cause a sharp recession, or worse, putting even more stress on the budget. A debt crisis is likely along the way as the US finds it impossible to roll over debt.
↗Tariffs, saving, and investmentgrumpy-economist.com 5th of 6 in this piece
- JC
John H. Cochrane quoted
Their wordsCure the disease, not the symptoms. Reform taxes to tax consumption, not saving and investment. Stop funneling borrowed money to consumption.
↗Tariffs, saving, and investmentgrumpy-economist.com 6th of 6 in this piece
- 8 days earlier
- MH
Molson Hart quoted
Their wordsThe tariffs have frozen business activity because no one wants to take a big risk dependent on a policy that may change next week.
↗America Underestimates the Difficulty of Bringing Manufacturing Backmolsonhart.com 8th of 16 in this piece
- MH
Molson Hart quoted
Their wordsWhen the United States applied tariffs to China, it shifted huge amounts of manufacturing to Vietnam, which did not have tariffs applied to it.
↗America Underestimates the Difficulty of Bringing Manufacturing Backmolsonhart.com 12th of 16 in this piece
- MH
Molson Hart quoted
Their wordsThey applied the same tax to the components that you need to make things in America that they did to finished goods that were made outside of America.
↗America Underestimates the Difficulty of Bringing Manufacturing Backmolsonhart.com 13th of 16 in this piece