A: No, absolutely not and in fact I think the president is delusional and I think he's making a major mistake. Look, I'm a professional economist and one of the things I teach at Chapman University - and I've taught at Columbia and other big schools - is cost-benefit analysis. Don't just look at the benefits that we're achieving through these tariffs, you have to look at the costs. The rise in the cost to consumers: you're not going to see cheap clothing and toys and sports, and even automobiles are going to increase dramatically in price. So what is the cost?
Well in 2018, President Trump imposed a 25% tariff on steel. It created a thousand jobs in the United States, but it also lost 75,000 jobs. Why? Because steel is an import and that raises the cost and causes trouble. You have to remember, the automobile industry has 30,000 different parts and do you know how much comes from outside the United States in imports? 40%! So even U.S. cars are going to see a dramatic increase in price.
~ Mark Skousen, "Trump Unveils Sweeping Tariffs Plan," 2:15 mark, Newsmax, April 3, 2025
