Will global leaders practice free trade preached to Trump?
Given the bipartisan agreement that tariffs are a tax on consumers, why don’t both major political parties pledge to promptly remove remaining nuisance tariffs if they prevail at the May 3 election?
The thumbs down from bond markets made it complete. For a week, Donald Trump’s embrace of the largest tariff package for a century had unified global political leaders, businesses and even economists, who rarely agree on anything. “It’s a bad idea, Donald”, was the message. And it’s a bad idea because tariffs are a tax on consumers and businesses. But one question remains. Will these same political leaders embrace these talking points when it comes to the tariffs that they continue to apply?
Trump has achieved what economic textbooks have long tried and frequently failed to do. Trump has made tariffs taboo. The notion that a tariff is simply a tax on consumers and businesses is now the global talking point.
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Brendan Pearson is a former CEO of the Minerals Council of Australia, political adviser, journalist and diplomat, most recently as Australia’s ambassador to the OECD.
