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Opinion
Chad P. Bown and Alan O. Sykes

Trump's Reciprocal Tariffs Don't Add Up

The domino effect of raising barriers on German auto imports would clobber U.S. consumers.
More or less made in the USA.

More or less made in the USA.

Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

President Donald Trump wants to make U.S. tariffs reciprocal with those imposed by other countries. Gary Cohn, his chief economic adviser, explained this strategy recently, recounting a comment the president made to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other Group of Seven leaders last month.

“Reciprocal is, if you've got a 30 percent tariff, you know what, we should have a 30 percent tariff,” Cohn reported Trump as telling the Europeans.