Backfiring

On Monday, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a pro-Republican, conservative think tank, published an economic analysis savaging Donald Trump's tariff policy (link here). Their report is titled "Trump’s tariffs are backfiring even on industries that were supposed to benefit from trade protectionism."

Only a handful of economists have argued that Trump's tariffs are a good idea, and the AEI's analysis shows in painful detail why. The economic damage they are causing will only worsen as time goes by.

It's really a mystery why Trump is so insistent on starting trade wars when it's potentially very damaging to him politically in his hopes for re-election. If he runs again in 2020, the economic drag caused by his tariffs will be felt by everyone.

If you wanted to sabotage the American economy and weaken the country internationally, then bruising tariffs coupled with a massive increase in the national debt would be the way to go. Curiously, Trump has pushed both of these and seen they became a reality.

While I don't really subscribe to the theory that Trump is some sort of Manchurian candidate bent on hurting the country to please his Russian masters, his insistence on destructive tariffs makes me wonder if I should reconsider.