James Surowiecki: “One of Trump’s challenges in dealing with inflation is that his signature policy—raising tariffs on imports from almost every country in the world—has made the stuff Americans buy more expensive, not less. Trump could, of course, just repeal the tariffs…”
“But Trump really loves tariffs. So instead of getting rid of them, he has suggested simply sending Americans $2,000 ‘dividend’ checks paid from tariff revenues.”
“A problem with this plan is that there are no dividends to pay out: sending $2,000 checks to most American households would demand more than what the government has collected in tariff revenues so far. In other words, what Trump is proposing is dumping hundreds of billions of dollars in deficit-funded stimulus spending into the economy. That would fuel inflation, not help quash it.”
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