Agree:
James Lucier Managing Director at Capital Alpha
It's a disruptive, external shock to the global trading system… (But) I actually think that this [Trump's tariffs on aluminum and steel] will have positive effects in the long run. It makes people in the United States who have not stood up to support free trade much more anxious to do so now that they see the possible consequences of the benefits of free trade being taken away.
Robert Mundell Canadian economist
The United States can't keep a completely open system if the rest of the world is less open. The United States may have to take a leaf out of the book of Japan, China, and Germany, and have protectionism inside the system.
Donald J. Trump President of the USA
I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar!
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen Member of parliament
A form of protectionism should be enforced at national level, at least on strategic areas such as agriculture. https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/protectionism
Peter Navarro American economist
Our view is that these actions [Trump's tariffs] are necessary to defend this country, and that they are ultimately bullish for Corporate America, for the working men and women of America, and for the global trading system.Disagree:
John Pugsley American political and economics commentator
Any time you read that your government is erecting tariff barriers, supporting threatened industries with subsidies, or interfering in any way with free trade between individuals or nations, you must realize that your standard of living is being lowered as a result.
Alan Greenspan American economist
Protectionism will do little to create jobs and if foreigners retaliate, we will surely lose jobs.
Stephen Harper Canadian economist
We have to remember we're in a global economy. The purpose of fiscal stimulus is not simply to sustain activity in our national economies, but to help the global economy as well, and that's why it's so critical that measures in those packages avoid anything that smacks of protectionism.
Manmohan Singh Former prime minister of India
Protectionism is a very real danger. It is understandable that in times of a severe downturn protectionist pressures mount but the lessons of history are clear. If we give in to protectionist pressures, we will only send the world into a downward spiral.
Michael Pettis Professor of finance
Put differently, surpluses don’t arise because surplus countries can produce goods more productively or efficiently. They arise from the need to export domestic savings caused by the low household income share of GDP. Because surplus countries direct their excess savings mainly to the US, the only economy deep, flexible and open enough to absorb them, it is the US that must inevitably run capital ... See More
Charles Dallara American economist
Threats of trade protectionism, plus unilateral actions on the exchange-rate front, such as the heavy interventions of China, Japan, and Switzerland in the currency markets - not to mention the retaliatory tariffs recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives - endanger growth prospects and could further depress financial market confidence.
Nicholas Bloom Professor of economics
Many people who have lost out in the last few decades voted for Trump. Trump will have a difficult time turning them into winners. The jobs of these people are not at risk because of Chinese or Mexican workers, but because of robots and computers. And new trade barriers and higher tariffs are not going to change that.
Milton Friedman American economist
The benefits of a tariff are visible. Union workers can see they are "protected". The harm which a tariff does is invisible. It's spread widely. There are people that don't have jobs because of tariffs but they don't know it.
Reuters Top and breaking news, pictures, and videos from Reuters.
China is slapping additional import tariffs of 25 percent on $16 billion worth of U.S. goods ranging from oil and steel products to autos and medical equipment, the commerce ministry said, as the world’s two largest economies escalate their trade dispute. “This is a very unreasonable practice,” the commerce ministry said on its website http://www.mofcom.gov.cn, responding to the United States’ ... See More
Juan Manuel Santos Presidente de Colombia
Protectionism is something that will hurt everybody, but especially the United States.
Paul Krugman Economist (nobel laureate) and NY Times columnist
Trump’s tariffs are badly designed even from the point of view of someone who shares his crude mercantilist view of trade. In fact, the structure of his tariffs so far is designed to inflict maximum damage on the U.S. economy, for minimal gain.
Lawrence Kudlow @CNBC Senior Contributor; AUTHOR JFK and the Reagan Revolution https://t.co/f8fWd0kzcU
The biggest flaw in the Trump economic plan is the tilt toward protectionism. I have parted company with him on this. The question here is whether his campaign bark will turn out to be bigger than his government-policy bite.
Thomas Sowell American economist
Tariffs that save jobs in the steel industry mean higher steel prices, which in turn means fewer sales of American steel products around the world and losses of far more jobs than are saved.
Joseph Stiglitz Nobel laureate economist based at Columbia University
With the election of Trump, America's soft power has taken a big hit. The United States has moved from a position of leadership in the creation of a rules-based international system to a position of leadership in its destruction and the creation of a regime of global protectionism. The damage will be long-lasting.
Ben Sasse The press office account of U.S. Sen. Sasse. His (less political/hopefully more interesting) p
Europe, Canada & Mexico aren't China. You don’t treat allies the same way you treat opponents. Blanket protectionism is a big part of why we had a Great Depression. "Make America Great Again" shouldn’t mean "Make America 1929 Again."
Bob Corker Politician, businessman
As the president taxes Americans with tariffs, he pushes away our allies and further strengthens [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. It is time for Congress to step up and take back our authorities. We have legislation to do that. Let’s vote.
Mark McKinnon Creator, executive producer, co-host: The Circus: on SHOWTIME Mark.McKinnon@HKStrategies.com
As history has repeatedly proven, one trade tariff begets another, then another - until you've got a full-blown trade war. No one ever wins, and consumers always get screwed.
Dr Liam Fox MP
[Trump's tariff on steel is] patently absurd. It would be a great pity if we ended up in a tit-for-tat trade dispute with our closest allies.
Walter E. Williams An American economist, commentator, and author of https://t.co/ra7EIDHNU4
Tariff policy beneficiaries are always visible, but its victims are mostly invisible. Politicians love this. The reason is simple: The beneficiaries know for whom to cast their ballots, and the victims don't know whom to blame for their calamity.
Asa Hutchinson United states politician
As we learned after President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley tariff at the outset of the Great Depression, vibrant international trade is a key component to economic recovery; hindering trade is a recipe for disaster.
Elaine Chao Elaine L. Chao is the 18th U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
Smoot and Hawley ginned up The Tariff Act of 1930 to get America back to work after the Stock Market Crash of '29. Instead, it destroyed trade so effectively that by 1932, American exports to Europe were just a third of what they had been in 1929. World trade fell two-thirds as other nations retaliated. Jobs evaporated.
Jonathan Dimbleby Author, broadcaster, documentary maker. My views are mine.
As it is, the grotesque distortions of the global market mean that for every dollar the West dispatches to Africa in the form of aid, two dollars are clawed back through subsidies and tariff barriers: a monumental rip-off by the rich as they instruct the poor to accept 'free' trade or else.
Preneet Kaur Official Page of Preneet Kaur Ex-MP Patiala & Ex Minister Of State For External Affairs,India.
The electricity tariff in Punjab is highest in north India, and it should be decreased.
