Trade and Protectionism

SUMMARY:

This report examines Trump administration policies and actions and the House Republican border tax adjustment (BAT) in the context of the United States’ traditional open market advocacy.  While the adoption of the proposed BAT would take the effective U.S. tariff back to levels not seen since World War II and is, therefore, highly unlikely, we conclude that administration actions to date are within established norms of international trade policy. We further note that large multilateral trade negotiations like TPP are victims of their own past success in virtually eliminating many tariffs and have pushed into much more contentious issues like labor and environmental standards, intellectual property, and legal arrangements, which will make them more politically difficult to approve in the future.

For excerpts from this report, see The Prevailing State of Trade and Border Adjustment Tax Offsets Tax Reform Benefits.

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