Trump's tariffs are mere political theater | James K Galbraith | Opinion | The Guardian - 0 views
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n Thursday, Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum, likely excepting Canada and Mexico – and perhaps America’s strategic partner Australia in due course. It was, of course, a shocking thing.
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When was the last time a US president did such a shocking thing? Well, actually it was in the first week of March 2002, at exactly the same point in a presidential first term. The president was George W Bush, of the Republican party, and the steel tariff he imposed was 30%. And before that? Ronald Reagan, with his “voluntary export restraints”.
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The practical effect of the tariffs will be small. The steel industry has about 150,000 employees in total; the aluminum industry claims about the same amount. No producer will commit the billions required to expand capacity, knowing that tariffs come and go; the Bush tariffs were taken off after only two years. If there is spare capacity that can be brought into service under the tariff barrier, that will show mainly as increased productivity rather than many new jobs.
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