Economics News

Professor of Economics Mary Lovely says negotiators should seek specific policy changes that will address the reason for these tariffs in the first place—U.S. allegations that China treats American firms unfairly with respect to their technology and intellectual property.

"The companies that use steel, like aluminum can manufacturers, or companies that make steel vats for pharmaceuticals or the dairy industry, they're going to be hurt by this," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

"If jobs and wealth are the metric for 'winning the trade war,' China, not America, will emerge the victor," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

"The Chinese are not going to be buying our soybeans, so almost by musical chairs our soybeans are going to Europe,” Mary Lovely, professor of economics, says about the EU's response to China's tariffs on American soybeans. 

Mary Lovely, professor of economics, says that after two rounds of retaliatory tariffs by China, U.S. ham and various other pork products now face massive tariffs—between 62 and 70 percent. "In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported zero weekly export sales of pork to China," she says. "So our exports to the country have pretty much collapsed."

A study co-authored by Stuart Rosenthal, "The vertical city: Rent gradients, spatial structure, and agglomeration economies," was published in the Journal of Urban Economics and is featured in the CityLab article, "Cities and the Vertical Economy."

Mary Lovely, professor of economics, explains why lower-income consumers, who tend to buy more goods from countries such as China, might end up feeling squeezed more than their higher-income counterparts.

"The biggest price hikes may be seen among these lower-priced products, and the effect of that will hit people toward the lower end of the income distribution more," says Professor of Economics Mary Lovely.

"What happens Friday will 'represent a fundamental retreat by the leader of the global trading system'," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics, adding, "It will be seen as a turning point."

"More firms will follow Harley’s lead and move production overseas," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics. "Can’t blame them. Many companies are being put in very difficult positions." 

"While good ideas to deal with them exist both within and outside the government, implementation is key. This is where the government often does not perform well," writes Devashish Mitra, professor of economics and Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

"We’ve never seen anything like this," Mary Lovely told the Associated Press. Lovely recently spoke with multiple news outlets about the trade war between the U.S. and China.  

"Tariffs on the imports of steel will make steel more expensive here, thereby raising the cost of production in steel-using industries and making them less profitable," says Devashish Mitra, professor of economics and Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs. "These steel-using industries will then cut employment."

"Yes, we are now in a trade war," says Professor of Economics Mary Lovely. "The two sides are no longer engaged in productive talks to defuse tensions," she adds.

"Unless there’s congressional intervention, it’s hard to see where this goes," says Mary Lovely, professor emeritus of economics at the Maxwell School, about President Trump's combative trade stance.

"This divide-and-conquer strategy is not entirely unexpected, especially now that the three-way negotiating process seems to have hit a wall," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics, on President Trump's NAFTA talks.

These new tariffs will “almost surely not” cause a recession, says Mary Lovely, professor of economics. “This industry is important but it’s not that important. Costs will rise. We’ll see some job dislocation…but we will not see a recession,” she adds.