The Atlantic

How Much Damage Will Trump’s Trade War Do?

Higher prices, slowing growth, mounting layoffs—and the indirect costs may be even greater.
Source: Aleksandra Michalska / Reuters

Will Donald Trump’s trade war tip the economy into a recession?

It seems a reasonable question to ask. The White House has initiated a rapidly escalating global tit for tat, with thousands of products from the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, and Europe now affected or threatened by tariffs. The price of imported goods is increasing. The demand for exported goods is falling. American businesses are laying workers off, and some are warning that they might end up bankrupt.

In some sense, Trump could not have picked a better time to engage the country in

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