Summers Says Trump Tariffs to Impose Oil-Shock Type Economic Hit

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said the Trump administration’s looming tariff hikes are set to impose an oil crisis-like shock to the economy that shrinks its productive capacity — boosting both prices and unemployment.

“This is the kind of thing you discuss in the way we would usually discuss an oil-price spike or earthquake or a drought, as a supply shock,” Summers said on Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin. “The question is mostly how much damage is going to be done.”

Summers spoke hours before President Donald Trump is scheduled to unveil so-called reciprocal tariffs against ...