Bill Dudley, Columnist

High Tariffs, Weak Dollar? A Recipe for Disaster

Donald Trump’s plan to boost US manufacturing is fundamentally flawed.

September 5, 2024 at 10:30 AM UTC

Bill Dudley is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he is a member of Coinbase Global's advisory council.

Maybe not.
Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images

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One shouldn’t get too wound up by what Kamala Harris or Donald Trump say they plan to do as president. Candidates always make promises that they know they won’t be able to keep.

But when Trump says he’ll boost US manufacturing by raising import tariffs and pushing down the dollar’s exchange rate, I see reasons to worry: The president has the power to attempt both by fiat, and the plan is inherently contradictory.