NY Fed chief says tariffs risk 'trade war' as Trump eyes protectionist action

CNN Money
March 1, 2018

New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley lambasted tariffs and other protectionist trade policies on Thursday.
"Raising trade barriers would risk setting off a trade war, which could damage economic growth prospects around the world," Dudley said in a speech at the Central Bank of Brazil in São Paulo. Although short-term gains are appealing, "in the longer term it would almost certainly be destructive."
Dudley, currently the No. 2 in rank on the Fed's powerful policy committee... not known for gloomy remarks, said trade restrictions, such as tariffs or quotas, won't save jobs as Trump believes. Dudley added that higher trade barriers "often backfire," and create long-term costs in the form of retaliation, higher consumer costs, higher production costs and less competitive industries in the United States.
"The expectation that higher trade barriers would save jobs ignores these critical second-round effects," Dudley said.


http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/01/news/economy/new-york-fed-dudley-protectionism/index.html


The inability to understand secondary consequences of actions is the hallmark of Cheeto’s presidency. He is the perfect leader of the GOP.