Economists: Tariffs Not Boosting GDP

Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have a small, negative impact on gross domestic product growth, according to economists, the Congressional Budget Office, the International Monetary Fund and the top White House economic adviser. That contradicts President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that the tariffs have boosted the GDP.

As the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service put it in February, the “consensus among most economists is that the tariffs are likely to have a negative effect on the U.S. economy overall.”

As the trade war between China and the U.S. intensified, Trump...