No, Tariffs Are Not Strengthening the Economy

Testifying to Congress, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer argued that “President Trump’s trade policy is working.” The data present a different picture: President Trump’s trade agenda is actually holding back the economy.

If we want to truly “become an economy based on producing real goods and services,” as Greer told Congress, ending the trade war for US manufacturers needs to be the highest priority.

The outlook for the manufacturing sector, that part of the economy that tariffs were supposed to help, is bleak. Manufacturers continue to shed jobs (down 88,000 year-over-year) while productivity collapsed in the fourth quarter of last year—the opposite of what we would expect if tariffs were boosting productivity, as Greer alleges.