(Official Advocate/Times-Picayune editorial, March 9) President Donald Trump’s tariff wars are a terrible idea anyway, but Louisiana’s congressional delegation should be particularly opposed to them and eager to reassert congressional authority.
Trump has been playing a cat-and-mouse game with taxes on imports from Canada and Mexico, has instituted new tariffs on China and is threatening “reciprocal” levies on goods from all nations that impose their own import taxes. His announcements have spooked stock markets, even as inflation continues above target rates and the economy looks headed for a contraction in this year’s first quarter.
The tariffs surely will lead to higher prices not just on imported goods but also on American-made products that use foreign parts. For instance, if Trump a month from now goes through with the threatened (but temporarily suspended) tax on Canadian and Mexican auto parts, Bloomberg reports average car prices could rise by a whopping $12,000. New home prices could rise by some $35,000.
The Tax Foundation says the tariffs will raise not just prices but also taxes, with just those on our American neighbors and on China putting an extra tax burden on the average American household of $1,072. And all for little net gain to the U.S. Treasury, as “nearly all the new tariff revenue raised under President Trump’s first term was used to bail out farmers harmed by retaliatory tariffs.”
Not to mention that just keeping track of and implementing all the individual tariffs would require more government workers and red tape, rather than streamlining the federal behemoth.
Louisiana would be hit especially hard by widespread tariff hikes. The whole point of Trump’s trade policy is to favor local manufacturers by discouraging imports. Likewise, when other nations retaliate, as they surely would, U.S. exports will decline accordingly. All of which means far less work for U.S. ports. Considering that, by tonnage, Louisiana has four of the nation’s 10 busiest ports — South Louisiana (2), New Orleans (5), Greater Baton Rouge (7), and Lake Charles (10) — the tariffs could be devastating to the state’s economy…. [The full editorial is here.]
