President Trump’s trade wars are expected to reduce the average U.S. household’s income by $580 by 2020, according to a new study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
That figure — which does not include new tariffs scheduled to go into effect in September and December — amounts to a significant chunk of economic growth. It is the equivalent of roughly $60 billion in lost economic activity.
{mosads}“Higher trade barriers — in particular, increases in tariffs — implemented by the United States and other countries since January 2018 are expected to make U.S. GDP about 0.3 percent smaller than it would have been otherwise by 2020,” CBO Director Phillip Swagel said on Wednesday.
President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the United States does not bear the costs of the tariffs.
Trump has imposed 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports and is planning a 10 percent tariff on billions more in the coming months. China has imposed its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods and has sought to raise trade barriers in other ways.
The president has also imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum against an array of U.S. trade partners, such as the European Union, who have retaliated with tariffs of their own.
The recent increase in tariffs will also add $33 billion to the nation’s coffers, according to the CBO.
Read more from The Hill: