Trump’s Tariffs Tradeoff

“President-elect Trump has said he wants to slap aggressive tariffs on all sorts of U.S. imports as soon as Day 1 of his administration. But taking shock-and-awe action would come with meaningful economic, political and legal risks,” Axios reports.

“Trump will have to decide whether to turn to the tried-and-true tools to implement tariffs he used when he was last in office — which are powerful, but take time and care to enact — or rip up the playbook.”

“In the disruption scenario, Trump could declare a national economic emergency, which gives the president wide latitude over international economic policy.”

“Then he could move quickly on tariffs. But he’d face blowback in the form of higher consumer prices, a slumping stock market, angry CEOs and congressional Republicans, retaliation from trade partners, and legal challenges.”