Remarks
To Be Clear, Trump’s Tariffs Were Not ‘Produced by Purdue University’
The professor behind the computer model that the administration used is not a fan of the tariffs
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I was intrigued to see Purdue University’s name plastered all over the U.S. Department of Commerce document that made the case for President Trump’s 25 percent tariff on imported steel. Six times in the document the same phrase appears: “According to the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Model, produced by Purdue University ….”
So on March 8, I called Purdue and reached the economics professor who built the computer model. His name is Thomas Hertel, and he’s not overjoyed with the way the Commerce Department phrased Purdue’s involvement. He says it could give some people the impression that Purdue did the analysis, or even that it supported the findings, which he, at least, definitely doesn’t.