I am hoping that someone out there with an economics background can explain for me and other Spy readers how Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” announced yesterday make any sense. In responding, you might want to consider:
- Trump’s justification for these tariffs is based on a formula that divides the value of U.S. exports to a given country by the value of U.S. imports from that country, then dividing by 2. How does this completely arbitrary methodology relate in any way to actual tariffs?
- Trump has based his tariffs on the need to counter an imaginary “national economic crisis” which, under the authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (1976) give him the unilateral ability – bypassing Congress – to impose these tariffs. What is the “crisis” and how is it manifested? As The Economist stated (October 19, 2024), Trump inherited a domestic economy that was “the envy of the world,” so it is impossible to comprehend how a “crisis” amounting to a national emergency could have occurred so suddenly or what it even looks like.
- Most economic commentators – including The Wall Street Journal on March 31, 2025 – describe a tariff as a “tax” on the ultimate consumer who pays the tax. If so, how are additional tariffs consistent with Trump’s stated aim of reducing taxes and curbing inflation?
- And please explain, if you can, what the economic strategy is behind these tariffs?
We await a response.
Stephen Clineburg
Talbot County
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