By Robert Higgs
cleveland.com
(TNS)
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump, in the wake of his sweeping tariffs announcement on Wednesday, took a victory lap Thursday morning, posting on Truth Social that he had saved the American economy.
Posting on his social media platform, the president likened his tariff decision to a successful medical procedure that will spark greatness.
“THE OPERATION IS OVER! THE PATIENT LIVED, AND IS HEALING. THE PROGNOSIS IS THAT THE PATIENT WILL BE FAR STRONGER, BIGGER, BETTER, AND MORE RESILIENT THAN EVER BEFORE. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” Trump wrote in an all-caps blast.
But the jury is still out on whether Trump’s move will bolster the economy or sink it.
The president on Wednesday announced far-reaching tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners. The new taxes on imported goods amount to 34% on imports from China and 20% on the European Union, among others.
The move on what he billed as “Liberation Day” threatens to dismantle much of the architecture of the global economy and trigger broader trade wars, The Associated Press said.
Trump insisted that the tariffs are needed to counter a global trade system that has allowed the United States to be “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered” by other nations.
Trump declared a national economic emergency to levy the tariffs and promised that factory jobs will return to the United States as a result of the taxes.
“Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” he said during his announcement. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”
Economists have taken a different view, warning it could push the United States into a recession as middle-class essentials such as housing, autos and clothing are expected to become more costly.
Consumers already are fearing that higher prices are on the way, with the industrial, retail, consumer and automotive sectors all feeling the pain, NBC News said.
“With today’s announcement, U.S. tariffs will approach levels not seen since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which incited a global trade war and deepened the Great Depression,” said Scott Lincicome and Colin Grabow of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said on Wednesday.
Financial markets on Thursday reacted quickly, with the S&P 500 tumbling 4.3% in morning trading, on track for its worst day since COVID shattered the global economy five years ago, AP said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,538 points, or 3.6%, as of 10:55 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 5.6% lower.
Globally there has been fear about a potentially toxic mix of higher inflation and weakening economic growth that could be created by the tariffs rivaling levels unseen in roughly a century.
UBS, a multinational financial services company, cautioned that it’s “plausible” that this sweeping round of new tariffs could reduce U.S. economic growth by 2 percentage points this year and raise inflation close to 5%.
Photo caption: President Donald Trump signs an executive order on tariffs during the “Make America Wealthy Again” event in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)
©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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