Leading economists reacted with alarm after President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on U.S. trading partners, with some projecting potential economic losses of up to $20 trillion.
What Happened: “Monstrously destructive, incoherent, ill-informed tariffs based on fabrications,” economist Justin Wolfers wrote Wednesday on X, calling the move “bigger than Smoot-Hawley” and warning it would “hurt working Americans more than anyone else.” Wolfers referred to the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, signed by former President Herbert Hoover, which raised import duties to protect U.S. farmers and businesses but worsened the Great Depression.
Trump’s “Declaration of Economic Independence,” unveiled Wednesday, establishes a reciprocal tariff structure set at half the rate trading partners impose on American goods, including non-monetary