Debating trade issues with President Trump’s anti-trade supporters is a constant game of goal shifting. If you point out that the Trump tariffs are raising revenue for Uncle Sam on the backs of American consumers, they reply that China is hurting the most. If you note that the trade war is the main reason the stock market is losing its mind, not actions by Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, they reply that China is “a brutal Communist police state that abuses its own people and steals from the world.”
Mr. Trump and his team of unrepentant protectionists have made wild claims about what big tariff hikes and aggressive negotiating tactics will achieve. Let’s pick the top five claims. Have any actually panned out? The answer will not come as a surprise. (It’s no.)
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