What Populists Don’t Understand About Tariffs (but economists do)

Episode Details

Both presidential candidates have supported tariffs, albeit at very different levels. Can tariffs bring back manufacturing jobs, reduce the trade deficit, and provide substantial revenues? Responding to a recent article in The Atlantic, Maurice Obstfeld and Kim Clausing highlight that steep, across the board tariffs, like those candidate Trump proposes, will prove costly to US consumers and producers, are unlikely to revive manufacturing, will have little effect on the trade deficit, will generate minimal revenues, will raise the prices, and will invite retaliation. Maury joins EconoFact Chats to discuss these points, as well as to suggest other policies to achieve the goals that populists argue tariffs would realize.

Maury is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and an Emeritus Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley. He served as a member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, and as Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund.