Thursday, 24 April 2025 09:25

Own goal

Written by The Hound

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OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.

Maurice Obstfeld, a former IMF Chief Economist, recently noted these tariffs will hit Americans hardest, if reintroduced after the 90-day pause.

Here in NZ, commentator Oliver Hartwich reckons the Trump administration is taxing imports in precisely the areas in which the US economy gains the most – like cheap inputs for manufacturing or products no longer made domestically.

The result will be higher prices, less choice and less prosperity. “It is economic self-sabotage dressed up as patriotism.”

This mutt reckons the temporary suspension is a welcome reprieve but the underlying strategy has not changed – nor has the threat. Trump’s decision to hike tariffs on Chinese imports to ridiculous levels shows that this trade war is far from over.

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