Economist: President Donald Trump's Tariff Plans Are Not 'Rational'

9 hours ago

Clifford Winston, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss President Donald Trump's tariffs.

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Transcript

00:00And I think from what you're saying when you're trying to solve a problem if you see that it's not that's not the correct way

00:06To solve it if you're seeing roadblocks if you're seeing it's not working people usually course-correct

00:12Markets don't like tariffs

00:15Economists don't like tariffs even some Republicans. I've talked to don't like tariffs tariffs are widely

00:22Dis our people Americans widely disapprove of tariffs according to polls. So why double down why triple down?

00:30What do you think the endgame is here?

00:34The whole problem is

00:36If someone were to give a rational response

00:41To why they are not pursuing a rational policy. That would be one thing

00:46But that is not what the president is doing as you say, he's just doubling down

00:52So it's hard to sort of Sane wash him and say he's doing something rational

00:57He's not you know from here then the discussion is I have no idea what he's doing and why he's doing it

01:04You know in theory, right? He will go on record as saying

01:09I'm putting it I'm

01:12Having Pat installing tariffs setting tariffs to increase employment

01:17protect industries and

01:20promote job growth

01:22Effectively, what they're doing is reducing competition. Okay

01:26If you really believe that then he could sort of say, okay, and this is the best way to promote jobs

01:32But of course it isn't right. There are many other better ways of

01:38Promoting jobs without hurting consumers because tariffs are gonna raise prices for consumers

01:43And so that's gonna hurt them. Can we do something to promote jobs?

01:49Without hurting consumers. Well, there is an answer to that question

01:52Something like the investment tax credit, right if you want to promote jobs that why don't you?

01:59encourage

02:00industry to expand output

02:04Reducing their costs and investments by giving them a tax credit. They'll then hire more workers

02:10You don't have to then raise prices in front of you

02:13For consumers you achieve what you want at much lower cost

02:18Without hurting consumers. That's a rational thing to do, but we can't even engage in a discussion about this

02:26That is what's so frightening, right?

02:28I mean

02:28He's just wedded to tariffs and he's gonna ignore alternatives and I think he'll also ignore what the effects are which are not gonna

02:36Be good

Economist: President Donald Trump's Tariff Plans Are Not 'Rational'

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