Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Err . . . Tariff-ic ?

Last week after President Trump announced his intention to institute significant tariffs on aluminum and steel, I received an article from The Economist in an email from a friend. He said that he sent me the article because “you occasionally send around some items on Trump.” Actually I send around a lot of items on Trump, but I only send a few of them to him.
Anyway author of the article from The Economist was against the proposed tariffs. I noted that he was either educated outside the USA or lives outside the USA, because no one in the USA uses the word “tyres” when talking about those round things on a car. My guess is that he probably was from Great Britian, and so I would expect him to be against U.S. tariffs. Should I take his opinion as gospel. Err, . . . “No.”
As I see it, this is another fulfilled Trump campaign promise. He has been saying for at least five years (long before he was a candidate) that other countries were taking advantage of The United States on trade. He promised to change that, and he feels that tariffs are a step in the right direction.
Be that as it may, there are a multitude of opinions concerning why these proposed tariffs are either good or bad. I am a bit skeptical because uber liberal radio talk show host, Leslie Marshall, and Senator Sharrod Brown (D, Oh) are both in favor of these new tariffs. On the other hand some Republican Senators have come out against these tariffs. They include Orrin Hatch (R,Ut) who is a lawyer by trade and who has been in Congress for umpteen years. Does he have experience in business or international trade? Err, . . . “No.” Ben Sasse (R,Ne) has also come out against them. He was a college professor and subsequently a university president. Does he have experience in business or international trade? Err, . . . “No.” Another critical Senator is Pat Toomey (R, Pa), who actually did work as a currency trader, which, I guess, gives him some basic international experience, but no real business experience. Does this make him an expert on tariffs? Err, . . . “Maybe, at best.”
On the other hand Mr. Trump has had multitudinous years of international business experience. Has he had results on the economic front since he has been president? Are there some significant economic parameters that we can measure since Trump’s election to gauge economic success? As a matter of, there are quite a few:
In January U.S. household incomes rose 0.9%.
In February new jobless claims fell to a 50 year low (the lowest reading since 12/6/69). The ISM Manufacturing Index in February was 60.8 . . . in other words, terrific!
The adjusted GDP growth over the last nine months was 3% . . . Wow!
Who should I believe and trust on economic issues? On tariffs?
Err, . . . “I’ll take The Donald!”

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