Blog: Tariffs, Reciprocal In Name Only, Make Markets Fragile

"We call a tariff a protective measure. It does protect . . . It protects the consumer against low prices. . . ." -Milton Friedman

Risks were balanced going into last week. We all knew that the President was going to announce his broad tariff plan on April 2nd at 4:00 PM EDT. But what he was going to say was not known. He had said many things during the campaign and after taking office. Some of them were quite severe, but he was also known to backtrack on his public statements. What he did say in March was that he planned "reciprocal tariffs" defined by the President this way earlier in the year:

"I have decided for purposes of fairness, that I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less."