“The first time he was president, Trump raised tariffs on steel. That helped American steelmakers. They hired 1,000 more workers. Yippee.
But more American companies make things out of steel. They were hurt. The result: America lost about 75,000 jobs.”
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“American industrial output is near an all-time high.
Unemployment, now at 4.2 percent, is much lower than it was when I grew up.
Politicians never learn. In 1930, at the start of what became the Great Depression, clueless legislators Reed Smoot and Willis Hawley got Congress to pass what became known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.
“It deepened and lengthened the Depression,” writes the Foundation for Economic Education”
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“Trump says he’s making deals! He got China to reduce tariffs to 10 percent.
But China charged 8 percent before Trump raised tariffs during his first term.”
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“Some countries, in response to Trump’s moves, raised their tariffs. Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on $107 billion worth of U.S. goods.”