Noah Feldman, Columnist

Trump Wants a Win, But This Tax Plan Is a Loser

Republicans' stated goal would break international law.

March 29, 2017 at 2:00 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Starting a trade war wouldn't be pleasant.
Photographer: Ty Wright/Bloomberg

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Now that President Donald Trump has failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, he’s turning to tax cuts to get a much-needed political win. There’s just one problem: What the Republicans want violates international law. If the reform bears any resemblance to the leading proposal, favoring corporate exports over imports, it’s going to get the U.S. sued in the World Trade Organization -- where it will lose.

It’s conceivable that Republicans won’t care about the defeat or the trade sanctions from other countries that the tax plan would likely bring. But ignoring the real-world consequences of the proposed reform would be self-destructive. It won’t mean a win for the Trump administration, not even the short term.