New working paper from Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy, by Junjie Guo and Ananth Seshadri. Although they don’t give a one word answer, I’m pretty sure it would be “no”.

Executive summary:

Tariffs are taxes collected by the government from domestic firms when they import goods from other countries. The burden of higher tariffs could be passed on to
consumers in terms of higher prices and to foreign exporters if they are forced to reduce their prices due to lower demand. Evidence from President Trump’s first term suggests that the burden of tariff hikes fell almost entirely on domestic consumers and importers. Furthermore, the import and
retaliatory tariffs had a negative effect on the U.S. economy even after accounting for the positive effect on customs duties and domestic producers. With tariff hikes, Wisconsin households and firms face higher prices and production costs related to imports, while the state

Keep reading this article on Econbrowser Blog - James Hamilton & Menzie Chinn.

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