Idiotic calculations stun economists

[struggle4progress]

1. How much will tariffs raise prices?

April 3, 20252:30 PM ET
Jeff Guo

... he has variously denied that tariffs would raise prices or has said that he "couldn't care less."

But according to Trump's math, the tariffs are supposed to raise prices. Because those higher prices are the driving force that will close the trade deficit ...

... these are very rough, back-of-the-envelope calculations. As laid out, this formula treats every trading partner, every good and every industry the same. Bananas, oil, clothing, computers or cars — it doesn't matter what a country sends to the U.S.

More importantly, the formula hinges on a big assumption about how much tariffs will raise prices. Trump's math assumes that only a quarter of the tariffs would be passed onto American consumers in the form of higher prices. But economists who have studied Trump's tariffs in 2018 — on steel and aluminum and various products from China — calculate that almost all of those tariffs ended up being passed onto Americans ...

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/03/g-s1-58094/tariffs-price-raises-economists