How Trump's New Tariffs Will Impact US Consumers, Global Economy

Yesterday, President Donald Trump announced two new tariffs: a 10% universal tariff on imports and reciprocal tariffs on 60 countries. Voices across the spectrum rallied against the tariffs, though a few on the right supported them.

From the Left: Voices on the left were uniformly against the tariffs, noting that they would hurt the economy and consumers and that Trump's strategy wasn't clear.

From the Right: Many voices on the right argued that Trump's tariffs are more than risky and could lead to a recession. However, a piece in Newsmax (Right bias) argued for reciprocal tariffs, saying, “While patiently waiting decades for some supernatural globalist wand to perform its economic magic, the only thing we really see is once productive, and proud Americans pleading with bureaucrats at the welfare line.”

From the Libertarians: On the left, some commentators seemed baffled by Trump's strategy, while on the right, commentators were more likely to understand his “short-term pain for long-term gain” approach, just disagreeing with it. In libertarian magazine Reason (Center), a writer noted that the confusion could be because Trump's words don't match his actions. Trump says tariffs will make us wealthy, but has a history of backing off if other countries comply with his demands. “If tariffs are the key to tremendous wealth, shouldn't Trump implement them no matter what the leaders of any other countries do or say? If we really can tax our way to prosperity, as Trump claims, why wouldn't we do that? Perhaps it is because we can't, and those claims are lies,” he explained. 

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