Navarro is right. Those that cry “the sky is falling” thus far have not been proven correct. In fact, inflation was much higher with Biden’s spending, but they don’t talk about that:
Tariffs Did Not Cause Major Inflation During Trump’s First Term
4 thoughts on “Tariffs Did Not Cause Major Inflation During Trump’s First Term”
Comments are closed.
Ya gotta love Navarro.
He is a strong proponent of reducing U.S. trade deficits, and is well known for his hardline views on China, describing the country as an existential threat to the United States. He has accused China of unfair trade practices and currency manipulation and called for more confrontational policies towards the country. He has called for increasing the size of the American manufacturing sector, setting high tariffs, and “repatriating global supply chains”. He is also a vocal opponent of free trade agreements.
He has been a loyal soldier for President Trump. Navarro was prosecuted for contempt of congress for ignoring the J6 committee subpoenas. He was so right to ” show CONTEMPT ” because the J6 D’s circus was contemptible.
He was not only prosecuted, Fred. He did prison time, as you know. I think what Trump and Navarro and Lutnick are doing is a necessary corrective.
Tariffs are a tax increase on Americans and increase prices when put in place. They have most likely contributed to the recent uptick in what had been down-trending rate of inflation. But they are a one-time [though enduring] price increase. The continuing inflation like the US has experienced since the Faucian dystopia is the result of “money printing”, the Fed creating money ex nihilo to buy the burgeoning US debt at artificially low interest rates.
(Tariffs also crimp supply [GDP] over time, contributing perhaps more to inflation than captured by the price increase caused by the tax increase, but inflation is overwhelming a monetary phenomenon.)
The price increases are limited to certain sectors of the economy, J. Sobran, and in some cases they don’t occur at all. I think Navarro is saying that the national inflation rate is not impacted significantly. That was certainly the case during Trump’s first term.