Monarch Discusses Trump’s Proposed Changes to American Trade Policy in Directorship Magazine Article
February 27, 2025
Directorship Magazine
Earlier this month, President Trump instituted a new 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports and pledged to impose a 25 percent levy on goods from Canada and Mexico—though the North American tariffs have since been delayed for 30 days. Trump announced later in February that he would enact a 25 percent tariff on all aluminum and steel imports.
“I used to work at the Federal Reserve, and what we’d say is that forecasting is hard, especially if it's about the future,” says Ryan Monarch, assistant professor of economics.
“We know that President Trump is not afraid to have an actual trade war,” he continues. “We saw it in 2018 and 2019, where almost all goods coming from China were hit with the highest tariffs we've seen in almost 100 years. And those were very disruptive.”
Prices increased for consumers and certain businesses, Monarch recalls. In his view, members of the Trump administration appear to feel that those earlier measures didn’t go far enough, and that the United States still must do more to “reorient the global economy” toward its interests.
Read more in the Directorship Magazine article, “How Board Members Should Think about the Trump Administration’s Tariffs.”
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