Harvard-trained economist Justin Wolfers (MA, PhD), professor of economics and public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economic, spoke about President Trump’s tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico Tuesday on MSNBC.
Wolfers said: “I think what’s coming out of the White House is frankly unmitigated nonsense, and there’s not an economist alive who would defend what they’re doing.”
He added: “But your viewers don’t have to believe me, it turns out there’s a market where people bet on whether those sorts of effects are going to happen. I’m talking, of course, of the stock market.”
On tariffs: “What’s coming out of the White House is unmitigated nonsense, and there’s not an economist alive who would defend what they’re doing.” pic.twitter.com/P5M17KlzV5
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) March 4, 2025
Wolfers said if Trump and his Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick are right “that these tariffs are going to lead to a boom in American business, then you should see the American stock market boom in response to a tariff announcement.”
But on the contrary, Wolfers said, “what we saw was stocks fell by two and a half percent yesterday and an additional one and a half this morning.” He added: “This is the stock market telling you ‘We think this is absolutely terrible for American business.’”
[NOTE: The stock market — essentially a prediction market, as Wolfers says — is also sometimes wrong and will go through what financiers call “market corrections” when it has misjudged future impacts. How long the present downturn persists, more so than an initial selloff, will offer a more reliable indicator of tariff impacts.]
Yet Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, an economics professor at Columbia University, agrees with Wolfers’ assessment. Stiglitz said of Trump’s tariffs: “Virtually all economists think that the impact of the tariffs will be very bad for America and for the world.” He added: “They will almost surely be inflationary.”
[Note: Billionaire investing legend Warren Buffett, in an appearance this weekend on 60 Minutes, described tariffs as “an act of war, to some degree.”]
Warren Buffett, the legendary investor, denounced tariffs as ‘an act of war,’ delivering a stark rebuke to Trump’s reckless policies. Undeterred, Trump slapped 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, a move that could fuel trade tensions and drive up costs for Americans. pic.twitter.com/AMdqTYwnpJ
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) March 4, 2025
Professor Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University expert on trade policy, warned about Trump’s tariffs: “U.S. exporters will face a particularly tough time, as they are likely to face rising tariff barriers in their foreign markets.” He added, “In addition, tariffs are likely to drive up the dollar and reduce the competitiveness of their exports in global markets.”
There is at least one prominent economist who is defending Trump’s tariffs: Fox News star Larry Kudlow, who served as Director of the National Economic Council during the first Trump Administration, said: “I believe he is absolutely right to use his tough tariff diplomacy by slapping 25% tariffs on both countries” (Canada and Mexico).
Note: In 2024, Kudlow became the vice chair of the board of the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank developing policies for the second Trump presidency.