Donations Improved Odds of Avoiding Trump Tariffs, Study Finds

  • Republican donations associated with more tariff exclusions
  • Ex-USTR official calls partisan bias finding ‘utterly false’

Trucks and cargo container loaders at the Port of Los Angeles.

Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg
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Public companies whose executives donated to Republican candidates had a higher chance of winning exclusions from President-elect Donald Trump’s first-term tariffs on China, while those that gave to Democrats saw their odds fall, according to a study into thousands of applications for relief.