Economic Concerns and Tariffs: A Different Perspective

For quite some time, there have been warnings about the potential fallout from the global economic and trade war sparked by President Trump’s tariffs. Interestingly, it seems that those fears may have been misguided.

Justin T. Haskins from the Heartland Institute reflects on this, expressing that “all the worries were completely off.” During an appearance on The Liz Wheeler Show, he emphasized that the situation is not as dire as some might think.

“So far, the data illustrates that the tariffs haven’t significantly pushed up consumer prices,” Haskins noted. “We’re not facing an economic disaster here.” He added that government revenues and tax returns are actually on the rise.

While acknowledging the larger deficit and debt challenges the country faces, Haskins suggested that the tariffs could potentially help address those long-term issues, though he criticized mainstream media for not presenting this angle.

“If you search online, you often find headlines claiming tariffs are driving inflation,” he observed. “But I want to share concrete data from the government to counter that notion,” he stated.

Haskins pointed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as a reliable measure of inflation. He stated that in July the year-over-year inflation rate was at 2.7%, which is consistent with June’s numbers and even lower than the rates just before Trump took office.

“For the last eight months, if you look at inflation in a straightforward way, it’s actually been going down,” he explained, though he cautioned that a more detailed examination of specific categories might show different results. Take clothing, for example—97% of it isn’t produced domestically.

“If tariffs were indeed causing inflation, we’d expect prices in those areas to go up—but in fact, we’re seeing a decline,” he said.