by Dan Mitchell | Aug 26, 2018 | Blogs, Trade
There’s a debate in Washington about what President Trump really thinks about trade. Is he a crude protectionist or closet free trader? If we focus on actions rather than rhetoric, I fear Trump is in the anti-trade camp. That is certainly the case if we look at how...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 18, 2018 | Blogs, Taxation, Trade
There’s an ongoing debate about Trump’s endgame on trade. Is he simply a crude protectionist, or is he disrupting the status quo in order to force other nations to reduce their protectionist barriers? I hope it’s the latter, though I fear it’s the former. But one...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 15, 2018 | Blogs, Trade
It’s no secret that I’m a critic of Trump’s protectionism. He doesn’t understand the benefits of trade, misinterprets trade data, and – to coin a phrase – he’s “making cronyism great again.” But, as shown in this interview, even I’m shocked that he’s “blaming the...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 1, 2018 | Blogs, Trade
By starting a trade war, President Trump is playing with matches in a gunpowder factory. Other nations are retaliating, creating the risk of escalating tit-for-tat protectionism. But is that really what’s happening? Is it possible that the President instead is playing...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 25, 2018 | Blogs, Trade
President Trump is a protectionist. He doesn’t understand the principle of “comparative advantage.” And he’s wrong about the implications of a “trade deficit.” But that doesn’t mean everything he says about trade is wrong. He frequently accuses other nations of...
