Experts boo Trump’s ‘single dumbest step’

● As US President Donald Trump forges ahead with his controversial trade policies, even financial experts who enthusiastically applaud many of his other policies are worried that the protectionist measures could hurt US growth.

“It is almost unimaginable that an educated, business-friendly politician would revert to protectionist policies in 2018, but Trump’s embrace of tariffs points to a very bleak period for global trade and investment,” said William Megginson, a professor of finance at the University of Oklahoma, who rates both Trump’s tax cuts and deregulation efforts a perfect “10”.

Though Trump’s policies “on balance have been good for growth”, he said, tariffs of 25% on imported steel and 10% on aluminium were “the single dumbest step the Trump administration has taken”.

The tariffs, and the threat of more to come, have drawn wide condemnation from economists of all political stripes.

Harvard University’s Dani Rodrik called the tariffs “small potatoes” in and of themselves, but fretted that in today’s globalised world they could be more destructive than the curbs imposed by Ronald Reagan.

Of 30 financial experts polled who rate Trump’s other economic policies in glowing terms, only a handful expressed even lukewarm support for the tariffs.

The fact that the distaste for tariffs is prevalent even among those largely supportive of Trump’s policies is notable as the president acts on campaign promises that many thought his business-friendly economic team, led by Gary Cohn, would keep him from carrying out. Cohn resigned after last week’s tariff announcement.

Cohn’s likely successor, Larry Kudlow, “has come around” to supporting tariffs as a negotiating tool, Trump said on Tuesday, as reports emerged that he wants tariffs on $60-billion of Chinese imports.