US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House press room on Jan. 30, 2025. (AP/Yonhap)
“Chaos and confusion” may be the most apt way to describe the first 100 days of the Trump administration — and that’s in large part thanks to the tariffs that have gotten top billing on its agenda. The bizarre and tortured logic behind the tariffs, not to mention the befuddling rates of the duties themselves and the non-stop whiplash of imposing new import taxes only to issue a grace period or retract them, has prompted shock and fear across the globe.
The administration’s tariff policies have come under fire for the manner in which they are being executed, even from those who agree with their underlying premise of bringing back manufacturing jobs.
Speaking to the Hankyoreh on Thursday, Kimberly Clausing, an economist and professor of tax law and policy and the UCLA School of Law who served in the Treasury Department during the Biden administration, criticized Trump’s tariff policies as “foolhardy” and lacking a coherent strategy or logic.
“Trump has consistently overestimated US leverage, and the US economy will experience large adverse shocks if these policies continue,” she warned.
Kimberly Clausing, the Eric M. Zolt Chair in Tax Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law.
Trump’s calculus is that trade deficits are the result of unfair trading practices by counterparts — a premise that Clausing says has no basis in economics. Bilateral trade deficits aren’t solely the result of trade barriers, she says, but occur due to a myriad of complex factors, including differences in savings and investments between the two sides, income levels, and consumer trends.
“It makes no sense to focus on bilateral trade deficits, since they are unrelated to trade barriers,” says Clausing. “The Trump administration conflates legitimate areas of sovereign policy decisions abroad with actions that adversely affect US trade; as one example, there is no evidence that VATs act as a trade barrier.”
With regard to Trump’s recent emphasis on striking deals with trade partners, Clausing says this moderation is likely “solely a response to market reaction and the early signs of the impending destruction that are caused by these foolhardy policies; it is not part of a grand strategy.”
“I would not credit the Trump administration with a coherent strategy on tariffs and trade,” she said.
The only point with which she could agree with the Trump administration’s assessment was that overreliance on trade with China presents a risk to the US.
“While of course the risks associated with excessive reliance on trade with China are real, their approach risks a complete embargo of trade in both directions, with disastrous consequences to the US economy,” she said.
“Even if the policies were reversed tomorrow, the policies have generated a great deal of policy uncertainty which has harmed investment and economic growth. These US policies also imperil economic growth abroad,” Clausing concluded.
By Kim Won-chul, Washington correspondent
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