Economists Project $8 Billion Loss in Trade from Tariffs

(BERKELEY, CA) As negotiators continue to search for solutions in the ongoing U.S. trade dispute with China, the American economy continues to suffer. According to a new study from economists at the University of California Berkeley, Columbia University, Yale University and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), President Trump’s strategy over the past year cost the American economy $7.8 billion dollars in lost gross domestic product (GDP). By estimating import demand and export supply elasticities using changes in tariffs over time, the researchers found that imports from targeted countries declined 31.5 percent, while targeted U.S. exports fell by 11 percent. The economists also found that annual consumer and producer losses from higher costs of imports totaled $68.8 billion, or an aggregate effect of a $7.8 billion loss.