📢CFP Tariffs and Trade Policy: Past, Present, & Future @ncsu: Dec 5, 6, 7 (am) Due: Sept 30 tinyurl.com/2stm2fk7 Papers: 8 + Discuss Keynote: @douglasirwin.bsky.social Panel: Chad Bown +TBD Sponsor: @NSF NEW TARIFF DATABASE 1789-2025 Funding: Flight+Hotel+Food (presenter/discussant)

The US Constitution forbids export taxes but I guess this payment isn't a "tax" but a payout....🤔 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/t...

On cue . .

Some great lines from @davidfrum.bsky.social "There is no socialist way to create wealth. There is only a socialist way to spend wealth." "While Trump’s behavior discredits markets, his rhetoric vilifies markets." & more . . . www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Heartbreaking to the extent that US tariff policy contributed to this . . . www.bbc.com/news/article...

Watch the AHA’s Congressional Briefing on the history of tariffs on C-SPAN. Panelists @douglasirwin.bsky.social, @sharonannmurphy.bsky.social, & @rauchway.bsky.social discussed how the government has implemented tariffs in the past & how they have impacted the economy. 🗃️

Tomorrow, on 6/11, the AHA will host a Congressional Briefing offering historical perspectives on tariffs. Panelists @douglasirwin.bsky.social, @sharonannmurphy.bsky.social, & @rauchway.bsky.social will discuss how the govt. has implemented tariffs in the past, & how they have impacted the economy.🗃️

Greg Mankiw in the WSJ on whether economics is a science

Attention Capitol Hill staffers:

The ancients were onto something....

Speaking Wednesday w/Madison Cmte on Foreign Relations #econsky econbrowser.com/archives/202...

Declining trade volume is a goal, a feature not a bug

🌟🌟If you haven't got it, get it! Clashing Over Commerce by @douglasirwin.bsky.social is $2.99 today on Kindle www.amazon.com/dp/B077KZQQC...

Great thread! There's a big difference between trade deals and trade agreements. Trade deals are limited, short term, and often superficial (remember IPEF?). Trade agreements are comprehensive, long term, substantive, and require Congressional approval. US isn't doing the latter.

Excellent thread and podcast about the challenges to Britain's free trade policy in 1903....

Never thought I'd see such a photo! Probably the same people who opposed TPP in 2016....?

There's always been a lot of free trade bashing (you might say that free trade is always under fire), but you might miss or appreciate it when it's gone or taken from you . . . www.ft.com/content/9fd4...

Brazil tried protectionism . . did it work? anyone? www.wsj.com/economy/trad...

Thank you @crampell.bsky.social for this scathing piece... Why are Democrats pulling their punches on Trump’s disastrous trade war? www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

I'm off work just now so not following every twist, but Trump's 10% ex-China blanket tariff is basically what Nixon did, as predicted by the great @douglasirwin.bsky.social in this podcast with me. You argue with Doug at your peril. www.ft.com/content/4109... See also: www.ft.com/content/007a...

Just throwing this out there: what if, instead of just a transfer, they agree to invest a certain amount of money in US firms each year. We could even tie that amount to the trade deficit.

With trade policies run amok, I hope @davidjlynch.bsky.social can explain all in his forthcoming book . . . looks fascinating www.amazon.com/Worlds-Worst...

The actual formula for the tariffs that Trump applied includes kappa - the "kindness" factor, where k >> 0. k > 1 is kindness, k < 1 is unkindness, and Trump set k = 2

"Mr Trump is a 20th-century man presiding over a 21st-century economy who wants to take it back to the 19th century," writes @douglasirwin.bsky.social in the Economist. www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

With tariffs, Trump said, “we can be so much wealthier than any country, it’s not even believable.” He got that last bit right. www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

Great thread . . .

ICYMI: FT’s @alanbeattie.bsky.social excellent interview with @douglasirwin.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/5hvA...

We have a 20th century president in a 21st century economy who wants to take us back to the 19th century...

Donald Trump has committed the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era. Almost everything he said—on history, economics and the technicalities of trade—was utterly deluded econ.st/3YbbFjq

From America's pre-eminent historian of global trade, @douglasirwin.bsky.social, it's bigger than Smoot-Hawley.

Incredible backlash against the attacks on trade

Not much has changed since 2018 . . . same analysis applies pretty much to today

This clears it up!

“This is going to be much bigger than Smoot-Hawley,” @douglasirwin.bsky.social told Bloomberg www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

An honor to join @davidgura.bsky.social and @douglasirwin.bsky.social on the latest episode of the Big Take podcast.

Hey @alanbeattie.bsky.social

"tariffs are tax cuts" 🤡 www.foxnews.com/video/637065...

If the auto tariffs leave NAFTA/USMCA in shambles, reciprocal tariffs (April 2, liberation day) will leave the WTO in shambles - at least as far as the US is concerned. The writing is on the wall . . . .

The return of VERs? Sometimes old trade policy instruments, long dead and buried, can stage a comeback . . . www.wsj.com/economy/trad...

Pardons for the January 6 rioters, death to people who vandalize cars

I'm often asked, but don't tariffs save jobs?

Tariffs are a double-whammy squeeze on farmers . . . their costs (equipment, fertilizer) go up and they are the first target of foreign retaliation . . . www.wsj.com/opinion/trum...

There's a saying from @douglasirwin.bsky.social that tariffs can achieve the three Rs - restriction, revenue, reciprocity. I'd add three Cs - coercion, clientelism and chaos.

Economists don't like tariffs not out of ideology or dogma, but for very practical reasons. Jan Tinbergen is relevant here . . . given an objective, what's the best instrument to achieve that objective? Tariffs are WAY down the list . . .