Trump 100-day report card: Tariff rollout ‘the biggest unforced error in American economic history’

The Washington Examiner cited CEI’s expert on tariffs

In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Ryan Young, a senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said that Trump’s tariff rollout has been disastrous.

“It’s the biggest unforced error in American economic history — I really think it deserves that title,” Young said.

He said he would grade the rollout an F- if that were possible.

“Part of it is the uncertainty, the chaos of the rollout,” Young added. “It doesn’t seem like it was well planned. He’s going back on things.”

But the Trump administration maintains that while the tariffs might cause some short-term pain, they are the needed medicine for the long-term health of the nation.

Also, on the campaign trail, Trump hinted that the across-the-board tariffs could go as high as 20%, so while many economists have hammered the 10% multi-country tariffs as bad policy, they could have been even more protectionist.

The White House has also emphasized that there are big deals coming as a result of the tariffs. Better trade deals would bring relief to markets, although many economists worry that the economic blowback from the initial tariffs themselves might far outstrip the positives of new deals with different countries.

Read more at the Washington Examiner