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Tariff Man Is No Ally of the American Worker

Tariff Man Is No Ally of the American Worker

Phil Gramm and Donald J. Boudreaux finely catalogue the effects of the first Trump administration's experiment with protectionism ('These Are Trump's Worst Tariffs,' op-ed, June 26). The first George W. Bush administration is instructive too. After the White House levied tariffs on steel imports, U.S. manufacturing lost more than 400,000 jobs between March 2002 and March 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manufacturers were unable to pass along higher prices to their customers thanks to fixed price contracts.
The most overlooked consequence of the tariffs was their effect on the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a post-Sept. 11, 2001, peak on March 19, 2002, at 10,635.25. The steel tariffs took effect the next day. Lumber tariffs followed in May. The Dow didn't recover until the steel tariffs were lifted on Dec. 4, 2003. From March 2002 to May 2003, the S&P 500 lost $2 trillion in market cap.
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