5 Takes On the Trump Tariffs

The tariffs unveiled by President Trump on Wednesday represent the "most ambitious economic realignment the American people have ever seen," a White House official tells Axios, and the outlet finds that "it's hard to disagree." But there is much disagreement on whether this realignment will ultimately help or hurt the nation. (Investors are pessimistic for now.) Trump's plan, in short, "is one of the biggest, most abrupt economic gambles in presidential history," write Courtenay Brown and Neil Irwin. Four more views about that:

• Recession fear: An editorial in the Wall Street Journal is leery about this move toward a "new old era of trade protectionism," and hopes much of the policy is eventually unwound. The ultimate impact is not clear at the moment because much depends on how other nations react, the editorial notes. "If countries try to negotiate with the US to reduce tariffs, the damage could be milder. But if the response is widespread retaliation, the result could be shrinking world trade and slower growth, recession, or worse."

• Faulty logic? A piece at the Economist similarly notes that Trump "has erected a wall of protection around the American economy akin to that of the late 1800s." The president argues that his way will stop America from getting "ripped off" by other nations at long last. "Conveniently ignored by him are the twin facts that globalization has delivered unprecedented prosperity to America and that the country has been the main architect of the rules underpinning international trade." America, it notes, was a much poorer nation when the late 19th-century protections were in place.
• In defense: A collection of assessments at Newsweek includes praise from Paul du Quenoy of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute, who asserts that Trump's move "powerfully corrects decades of unfair trade practices that have stymied export-led US growth and fueled the rise of China, our leading adversary, to world-power status." In particular, du Quenoy sees big benefits for US manufacturing.
• Krugman vents: Economics writer Paul Krugman, formerly of the New York Times and now on Substack, can't make sense of the math the White House used to impose its new tariffs on particular nations. For example, Trump accuses the European Union of charging 39% tariffs on US products, but the figure is nowhere near that in reality, argues Krugman, whose piece digs into the particulars of EU VAT rates. "You have to wonder whether Elon Musk's Dunning-Kruger kids are now producing tariff numbers." In regard to trade, Krugman writes, Trump "has gone full-on crazy."

(More tariffs stories.)