Trump launches trade war, US GDP loses $7.8 billion in 2018

Release time:

2019-03-22

A study recently released by a top university in the United States showed that the trade war initiated by US President Trump resulted in a loss of US $7.8 billion (about NT $242 billion) in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018.

An analysis of the short-term impact of Trump's move found that imports from trade war rivals fell by 31.5 percent, while U.S. exports fell by 11 percent under retaliatory measures, the study's authors noted. They also found that higher import costs cost consumers and producers a total of $68.8 billion a year.

The researchers pointed out that after accounting for the increase in tariff revenue and the increase in domestic producers' gains due to the increase in selling prices, the total national welfare still lost 7.8 billion US dollars, accounting for 0.04 per cent of gross domestic production.

The study was co-authored by economists University the Berkeley of California, Columbia University, Columbia University, Yale University and UCLA, and published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The self-styled "Tariff Man" Trump, both during the campaign and after taking office, has vowed to shrink the trade deficit by rejecting unfairly traded imports and renegotiating free trade agreements.

Trump has adopted protectionist trade policies to protect American manufacturing. In recent months, Washington and Beijing have fought a tit-for-tat tariff war, while Trump has also imposed irritating tariffs on the European Union and other major trading partners.

(Source: Asian Textile Federation)

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