Trump’s New Tariffs Would Feel Like Taxes, Economists Warn

If he returns to the White House, Donald Trump has pledged to enact a 10% across-the-board tariff on imports that he says will raise billions of dollars in revenue to pay for more tax cuts.

Yet mainstream economists say the GOP candidate’s second-term trade agenda—which could be boiled down to “tariffs on steroids,” as it also calls for increasing duties on Chinese-made goods to 60% or more—would essentially amount to a tax increase for American households. A recent report from the Peterson Institute for International Economics pegged the annual cost for the average middle-income family at $1,700, likening it to ...