US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have raised prices and hurt business without reducing the trade deficit or creating manufacturing jobs. But global trade has fared better than expected, and public opposition to tariffs could pave the way for a retreat from protectionism.
WASHINGTON, DC—In nearly two years since returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump has picked up where he left off in his first term, destroying the open multilateral trading system that has served the world well since the end of World War II. They have imposed sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries, repeatedly raising and lowering and changing tariffs for individual goods and countries, seemingly at will. As a result, US tariffs are now higher than at any time since the Smoot-Hawley tariffs in the Great Depression.
WASHINGTON, DC—In nearly two years since returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump has picked up where he left off in his first term, destroying the open multilateral trading system that has served the world well since the end of World War II. They have imposed sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries, repeatedly raising and lowering and changing tariffs for individual goods and countries, seemingly at will. As a result, US tariffs are now higher than at any time since the Smoot-Hawley tariffs in the Great Depression.