Ali Meyer of the Washington Free Beacon assigns a price tag to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s trade proposals.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump has proposed imposing large tariffs on imported goods from China and Mexico, a move that could cost consumers $250 billion per year, according to a report from the American Action Forum, a nonprofit group.
“A protectionist trade agenda would have dramatic impacts on American consumers,” the report said. “American importers would see their costs increase, which would most likely translate into price increases and reduced access to foreign goods.” …
… According to the American Action Forum, trade with China and Mexico makes up 31.3 percent of all U.S. trade. Due to the North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. currently does not impose any taxes on incoming Mexican products and the U.S. trade-weighted tariff rate is only 1.5 percent overall.
“To get a sense of the magnitude of the impact, we assume that the U.S. maintains its current import levels and businesses pass the entire cost of the tariffs on to consumers,” the report said. “Under these assumptions, Trump’s plan could cost American consumers $250 billion per year.”
