Here’s a breakdown of the key points from the provided text:
Economic Concerns:
Weak Employment Growth: The last three months have seen the weakest employment growth since the COVID-19 pandemic. Inflation: Inflation has edged up to 2.6% in June, exceeding the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.This raises concerns about a potential return of stagflation (rising prices with a stagnating economy).
Tariffs adn Hiring: Trump’s tariffs are cited as a reason why many firms are holding off on hiring and starting to raise prices.
Trump’s Reactions and Policies:
blaming the Federal Reserve: Trump blamed the Federal Reserve and its chair, jerome Powell, for the weak jobs report, demanding interest rate cuts.
Firing the BLS Commissioner: Trump announced he was firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), claiming the job figures were “rigged.”
Defense of the BLS: The text defends the BLS, stating it’s staffed by experts who strive for accuracy, calling Trump’s scapegoating “pathetic.”
Tariffs and Trade Deficit: Trump’s economic advisers have suggested that short-term economic pain from tariffs might be acceptable to reduce the trade deficit.
Empirical Evidence Against Tariffs: Economist Joseph Gagnon states that data shows “no relationship between trade balances and tariffs” and that Trump’s policy is based on a “mistaken premise.”
Recession as a Tariff Outcome: A potential way tariffs could reduce the trade deficit is by causing a recession, leading to less spending on all goods, including imports.
Global Trade System Shift: The U.S.is transitioning from guaranteeing an open trading system to operating a “global protection racket,” characterized by coercion and a “might is right” approach.
New Tariffs: Trump signed executive orders imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 50% on goods from numerous nations, including poverty-stricken countries like Chad and Lesotho, and countries that have suffered from past U.S.actions like Laos and Iraq.
Key Figures Quoted:
Jerome Powell: Chair of the Federal Reserve.
joseph Gagnon: Economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Riekeles: (No further identification provided in the text,but quoted on the U.S. approach to global trade).