, Columnist
Tariff Man’s Trade War Will Claim Innocent Victims
Trump thinks China pays when he slaps penalties on imports. It’s actually American consumers who bear the burden.
This is working out just fine.
Photographer: Kyodo News/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
In a series of tweets earlier today, President Donald Trump announced that he was a “Tariff Man,” trumpeting the revenue raised by tariffs and declaring that import taxes would maximize the U.S.’s economic power:
As Paul Krugman pointed out, it’s a fallacy to think that foreigners are the only ones paying the tariff bill. U.S. consumers pay as well. Believing that tariffs are a tax on foreign countries is like believing that sales taxes are a tax on Wal-Mart.