Revenue produced by the personal income tax routinely swings by more than 2 percent of GDP over short periods. The real long-term cost of Trump’s anti-trade tantrum is not the $200 billion or so a year in higher taxes on American consumers and businesses. The main result of Trump’s trade policy has not been a replacement of Chinese imports by U.S.-produced goods but a replacement of Chinese imports by Mexican and Vietnamese imports, as well as a shift away from goods and services offered by those nefarious ... Canadians. Granted, there was a time when a man such as myself would have a collection of hairpieces—but that’s beside the point! You can check out “How the World Works,” a series of interviews on work I’m doing for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, here.

Source: New York Times February 16, 2026 22:29 UTC