Trade wars may be “easy to win,” according to U.S. President Donald Trump, but congressional seats? Trump’s Republicans lost a handful of seats in last year’s mid-term elections due to the retaliatory tariffs issued by Canada, China, the EU and Mexico, a new study found. The study measures the effect at a county-level of U.S. tariffs, the global retaliatory tariffs and government subsidies designed to help those hurt by the retaliation. In April 2018, China unleashed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods like aluminum, pork, and soybeans, in response to Trump’s global tariffs on steel and aluminum. Interestingly, the study found no political benefits for Republicans from the original tariffs unveiled by Trump in the beginning of his trade war.

Source: National Post November 11, 2019 22:47 UTC