Lowy Institute this week released a new commentary stating that the Trump administration’s repeated attempts to find legal justifications for broad tariff powers have created costly uncertainty and complexity for US businesses, consumers, and taxpayers.
The commentary states that rather than serving the national interest, Trump’s tariff strategy primarily advantages special interests while imposing higher prices and regulatory burdens on ordinary Americans.
Lowy Institute stated:
While there are no doubt some businesses that have benefited from less competition from imports more than they have faced higher costs of production, the sheer uncertainty about the level of protection and how long it will last would chill investment. Add in the regulatory burden of understanding and complying with the rules to access a tariff discount, the productivity-sapping investment now required in lobbying, and the costs of managing the whole mess, and the Trump administration’s love of tariffs has been a costly affair for the American people.
Read the full commentary: The problems with US tariffs for the US