So much for reports by April 1, and a deliberative process --...
Brad Setser@Brad_Setser
68 views
Feb 02, 2025
~1 min read
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So much for reports by April 1, and a deliberative process --
President Trump is a true believer "“The tariffs are going to make us very rich and very strong" --
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President Trump is a true believer "“The tariffs are going to make us very rich and very strong" --
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Pharmaceutical imports, especially from low tax jurisdictions, have exploded recently -- they are up about 3x after Trump's tax cuts created a lower de facto tax rate (GILTI, at 10.5%) on offshore than onshore production
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Tariffing imported chips (components for US production) but not imported final goods with embedded chips would normally be viewed as a self defeating move -- most chips aren't imported as "chips" but as components of electronics/ autos ...
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Maybe there is something sophisticated behind these moves -- but right now they seem likely to show the limits of using tariffs as all all purpose tool for economic and foreign policy ...
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wsj.com/politics/elect…
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wsj.com/politics/elect…
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love how the kink in the curve on pharma imports is right at the end of 2017, when the TCJA passed --
One of my better calls was saying from the start that it would increase not reduce the incentive to offshore production
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One of my better calls was saying from the start that it would increase not reduce the incentive to offshore production
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