14-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Trump's ‘Golden Age' Isn't Out of Reach Yet
In 'Trump's Three Steps to Economic Growth' (op-ed, May 5), Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent paints a rosy picture of the administration's agenda but ignores critical flaws and costs of tariffs that threaten American families and global trade. While Mr. Bessent touts tariffs as a tool to 'rebalance' commerce, he omits their steep price: The Tax Foundation estimates current tariffs will cost households $1,300 annually, offsetting tax cut gains and undermining claims of Main Street prosperity-building.
The secretary's reliance on the 'China Shock' to justify tariffs also overstates offshoring's role. While China's trade surge led to U.S. manufacturing job losses, automation and the rise of services as a comparative advantage for the U.S. played a significant part, reducing labor demand in factories. The China Shock authors admit, too, that job losses to China peaked around 2010. Messrs. Trump and Bessent are thus fighting yesterday's war. Tariffs won't reverse technological shifts, but they will harm efficient global supply chains, hurt U.S. consumers and risk short-run dollar appreciation that in turn would hit U.S. exports.
