Trump loses 245K American jobs; lies about it 245 times. Literally.

February 25

On This Day In 2020

President Trump, in a move slammed by many economists, decided to impose a series of tariffs on imported goods from China. He promised his policies would greatly benefit the US consumer -- while at the same time punishing the Chinese economy. OTDI 2020, he told a group at a business roundtable: “So (farmers) got targeted from China, and then I took money from China, I gave it to the farmers.”

His argument is essentially false: As @GlennKesslerWP explains in The Washington Post, “Trump regularly brags that the United States reaps billions of dollars from tariffs he has imposed on other countries, such as China. But tariffs — essentially a tax — are generally paid by importers, such as U.S. companies, who in turn pass on most or all of the costs to consumers and producers…. So, ultimately, Americans are footing the bill for Trump’s tariffs, not the Chinese. The president is fooling himself if he thinks otherwise.”

A 2021 study estimated Trump’s war had cost Americans 245,000 jobs.

Never one to let the facts interfere, Trump liked his braggy lie so much he repeated a version of it at least 248 times, according to the Washington Post Fact Checkers.

1,000 jobs lost per Trumpian lie.

Sources/Links for further reading

• Transcript of the Trump's original remarks

• The Washington Post explains the economics and implications of Trump’s policy

• The WaPo's database of Trump’s misstatements is invaluable

• The UCBC analyzed the impacts of Trump's decision

Subscribe

Summary: Trump loses 245K American jobs via his trade war; lies about it 245 times. Literally.