Tag Archives: Tariffs

Employers added 139,000 jobs in May as labor market remains steady

Surprising data about labor market for new grads



Surprising new data about the labor market for young adults

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Employers across the U.S. added 139,000 jobs in May new federal data shows, a sign the labor market remains steady despite economic headwinds from tariffs.

The numbers

Payroll gains in May exceeded economists’ forecast of 130,000. Job growth over the last 12 months has averaged 156,800 per month, according to financial data firm FactSet.

The nation’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.2% for the third month in a row, matching forecasts by economists polled by FactSet. 

Job growth was slightly weaker in May compared with previous months. Employers added 177,000 jobs in April and 228,000 in March

—This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Trump speaks to China’s Xi amid ongoing dispute over trade truce

White House: Trump to speak with China’s Xi



Trump likely to speak with China’s president this week, White House says

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Washington — President Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday amid an ongoing dispute over a temporary deal to ease the escalation of tariffs between the U.S. and China.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said the two leaders spoke Thursday morning at Mr. Trump’s request. The White House did not immediately confirm the conversation.

Under a May 12 truce between the two superpowers, the U.S. reduced tariffs on Chinese goods to around 30% from 145%, while China reduced its levies on American imports to 10%. The 90-day deal was meant to give both sides breathing room to strike a broader agreement, but talks soon stalled.

Last week, Mr. Trump accused China of violating the May 12 deal. U.S. officials have said China is withholding some products, including rare earth minerals, that it agreed to resume exporting under the agreement. Earlier this week, China said the U.S. is undermining the deal by imposing new export control guidelines on AI chips and planning to revoke Chinese student visas.

On “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was expecting the two leaders to resolve their issues when they spoke.

“I am confident that when President Trump and party Chairman Xi have a call, that this will be ironed out,” Bessent said.

In an early morning post on Truth Social on Wednesday, the president wrote that “I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!”

contributed to this report.

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Trump’s steel tariffs hit baby products like “soft-bite” spoons, Munchkin CEO warns



Trump’s steel tariffs hit baby products like “soft-bite” spoons, Munchkin CEO warns – CBS News










































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When it comes to President Trump’s 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum, big ticket items such as cars, washing machines and heavy machinery often come to mind, but as Jo Ling Kent reports, they’re hitting smaller, everyday items, too.

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Popular baby products company Munchkin hard-hit by tariff hike on steel, aluminum

Los Angeles — At the Los Angeles headquarters of Munchkin, one of the most innovative baby brands in the country, the White House’s steel and aluminum tariffs are impacting several of the company’s products.

“No one thinks about a baby spoon as a steel product,” Steven Dunn, Munchkin’s CEO and founder, told CBS News.

President Trump last week announced that tariffs on steel and aluminum would double from 25% to 50%, a move that took effect Wednesday.  

“Tariffs should be strategic, Dunn said. “We need a tariff policy that doesn’t have the unintended consequences of putting 80% tariffs on a metal spoon.”

Dunn said making their popular soft bite baby spoon will cost 80% more because of the 50% steel tariffs, plus the existing 30% tariffs on Chinese imports.

“It’s a tariff on parents, and it’s a tariff on small and medium businesses throughout the entire country,”  Dunn said, adding that  tariffs affect almost all of the 500-plus products that Munchkin sells, the vast majority of which are made in China.

He said his profits have already taken a hit, and it’s not just consumers feeling the impact. After the tariffs were announced, he laid off workers for the first time in 35 years. 

Munchkin said tariffs are also impacting popular products such as strollers and thermometers. Some products are being discontinued. 

“It just will become unaffordable if we pass on the cost of the tariffs, it will make it too expensive,” Dunn said. “We don’t believe consumers will pay for it.”

Munchkin says manufacturing its products in the U.S. isn’t feasible. 

“There isn’t the manufacturing base, the tooling equipment, the automation,” Munchkin said.  

The White House’s shifting tariffs have created uncertainty for Munchkin.

Says Dunn: “It’s like being blindfolded, throwing darts at a rotating target.” 

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Tariffs are causing Alaska Airlines to cancel flights. Here’s why.

Alaska Airlines is canceling more than a dozen flights a day as tariffs hinder its ability to accept delivery of new aircraft, according to the carrier.

The Seattle, Washington-based airline said it wouldn’t immediately accept delivery of two Embraer 175 regional jets in order to avoid incurring the extra tariff-related costs. The aircraft were meant to serve Horizon Air, a regional subsidiary of Alaska Airlines. 

President Trump’s tariff agenda has upended supply chains for a range of businesses, and has forced many companies to raise prices on consumers in order to protect their margins. The aviation industry has also warned that the levies will affect its business.   

“We deeply regret the impact this situation will have on our guests this summer,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement to CBS News Wednesday. 

“Amid the ongoing uncertain economic environment, we are focused on controlling what we can control — including costs, productivity, operational performance and taking care of our guests to the best of our ability. As part of this effort to control our costs, Alaska will not accept additional costs imposed by tariffs throughout our supply chain,” it added.

Without the new aircraft, Alaska said it must cancel 14 flights a day through the end of July. Horizon operates all of its flights on Embraer jets. Alaska operates an all-Boeing fleet. 

The delayed aircraft were expected to arrive from Brazil in May. Brazilian imports to the United States have been subject to a 10% tariff since April.

Delta Air Lines also took steps to avoid paying tariffs on new aircraft earlier this year. In April, it had new Airbus A350 airlines delivered from France to Japan, and flew the planes internationally first, before bringing them to the U.S. Because the aircraft were not new on arrival in the U.S., the airline was not on the hook for paying tariffs on them.

Which routes is Alaska canceling?

The new planes had been scheduled to arrive by the end of May and were expected to go into service during the summer season for Horizon, which serves the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, California, Colorado, Utah and western Canada. 

Alaska said it is cutting routes that are served by multiple flights, so that no single route is eliminated entirely, even temporarily. 

“When deciding which flights to cancel, we put our guests at the center of consideration. We don’t take these decisions lightly as we know it means disruption for our guests and their travel plans. We assessed our network and protected the communities we serve that already have limited service. Our teams are working to reaccommodate all impacted guests on the next best option for their travel plans,” Alaska said in a statement. 

contributed to this report.

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Dollar Tree says U.S. tariffs could cut its second-quarter profits in half

Dollar Tree, a chain of discount stores, warned Wednesday that President Trump’s import tariffs could lower its second-quarter earnings by as much as 50% compared to the year-ago period.

The Chesapeake, Virginia-based retailer sources most of its inventory, which ranges from disposable tableware, party supplies and toys to puzzles and clothing, from China, making it vulnerable to higher U.S. tariffs on the Asian economic giant.

Mr. Trump earlier this year imposed tariffs of 145% on Chinese imports, claiming Beijing hasn’t taken sufficient steps to stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., before lowering the rate last month to 30% as the sides discuss trade issues. Even at the reduced rate, some businesses say the levies would make importing Chinese-made goods prohibitively expensive.

Dollar Tree CEO Mike Creedon said in an earnings call with Wall Street analysts on Wednesday that he expects the tariffs to hurt the company’s earnings in the near-term.

“We are actively engaged on multiple fronts to mitigate the impact of inflationary cost pressures including tariffs,” he added, while acknowledging that “the tariff landscape is highly fluid and changing week to week.”

The company is leveraging its relationships with suppliers to keep its costs as low as possible, Creedon noted. 

“Given the volatility of today’s operating environment, it is challenging to predict with precision the near-term performance of the business in Q2 — especially regarding tariff and other cost-mitigation efforts,” he said.

The company’s second-quarter earnings per share could drop by as much as 50% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to Dollar Tree. The company forecast its earnings to rebound in the third and fourth quarters as it expects being able to “mitigate most of the incremental margin pressure from higher tariffs and other input costs” for the whole year, Dollar Tree said in a statement. 

For the first quarter, the retail chain posted revenue of $4.6 billion and said it expects 2025 earnings in the range of $5.15 to $5.65 per share. It expects full-year revenue of between $18.5 billion and $19.1 billion.

Dollar Tree said on Wednesday’s call that higher-income customers have driven growth across its more than 15,500 store locations, a sign its prices are appealing to a broad range of consumers look for deals.  

The business has also sold its Family Dollar chain store brand in a deal it expects will close this summer. The $1 billion sale of Family Dollar to two private equity firms will allow Dollar Tree to “sharpen its operational focus” and generate cash flow, Creedon said.

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50% steel and aluminum tariffs take effect today. Here’s what could get more expensive.

The Trump administration raised tariffs on aluminum and steel to 50% today, a move experts say could increase costs on everything from homes and cars to household and office supplies.

While the U.S. has carved out its own niche in domestic metals manufacturing, it also relies on imports from abroad to fill in the gaps: America imported 26.2 million metric tons of steel and 5.4 million metric tons of aluminum from abroad last year, according to the International Trade Administration. Canada serves as the biggest foreign source for both metals.

The White House has been aggressively trying to pare back on America’s reliance on foreign nations, imposing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum in February, citing national security concerns. President Trump, during a visit to a U.S. Steel mill in Pittsburgh on May 30, announced he was doubling down on that rate, raising the 25% levies to 50%. The higher tariffs went into effect Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. EST.

While the new tariffs have won over some of the nation’s largest steel makers, who saw huge gains in share prices following Mr. Trump’s May 30 announcement, experts say the levies will raise cost of manufacturing on a wide range of products, making many items more expensive to buy. That’s because businesses typically pass on most or all of tariff-related costs to consumers through higher prices, according to economists. 

“That will hurt the people working in those industries and put their jobs under stress,” said Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow and director at the Pacific Research Institute, a right-leaning think tank. “And it also is going to put pressure on consumers, because those prices are going to increase.”

While some businesses may ultimately choose to absorb some of those increased costs, experts say others are likely to pass some of them along to customers — as was the case in 2018 when tariffs on steel and aluminum tariffs were introduced by the first Trump administration . 

Here are some of the consumer products that may get pricier with the new 50% steel and aluminum tariffs now in effect.

Cars

Automobile manufacturers are likely to feel the burn of higher tariffs, as they rely heavily on steel and aluminum for car production. The materials are found throughout the body and structure of a car, in everything from the car’s frame to engine parts to the hub caps, pipes and bumpers. According to Jay Cushing, senior bond analyst with Gimme Credit, steel accounts for 60% of the weight of the average vehicle.

Dean Baker, senior economist at The Center For Economic and Policy Research, told CBS MoneyWatch there is about $800 worth of steel in each vehicle. With that figure in mind, he projected a 50% tariff would drive up the cost of a car by around $400.

Cushing, however, projects an even steeper price hike. “A doubling of tariffs from 25% to 50% could raise the cost of a car from $1,500 to $3,000 per vehicle,” he told CBS MoneyWatch in an email.

A 25% tariff on imported cars remains in place, although the Trump administration has softened industry tariffs to ensure automakers aren’t hit twice with the additional import duty on imported steel and aluminum. “The metal tariffs should apply only once per vehicle,” Cushing said.

Sports equipment

Athletes may also notice a slight uptick in prices when shopping for new equipment such as baseball bats, tennis rackets and lacrosse sticks which sometimes contain aluminum. Industry experts say they’re already seeing price increases on aluminum bats, which are fairly expensive to begin with: upwards of $100 in many cases, with higher-end models running as high as $400.

Those higher price tags could end up creating negative repercussions for sports participation. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association, which tracks industry data, has consistently found that the lowest household income brackets are most negatively impacted in terms of sports participation.

“If we’re going to continue to increase costs on equipment, then those lower income level households are going to continue to be left on the sideline in terms of literally and figuratively,” said Todd Smith, president and CEO of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.

Beer and soda cans

Whether it be beer, soda or seltzer, any beverages that come in a can will likely cost Americans more after the steel and aluminum tariffs take effect. 

This could lead major name-brand businesses to shift their strategy. Back in February, the CEO of Coca-Cola James Quincey said if aluminum cans become more expensive, the company would put more emphasis on plastic bottles. The soda giant sources aluminum for its cans from Canada, Quincey said on a February company earnings call.

Canned goods and packaged grocery items

Another place where Americans might feel a slight pinch is at the grocery store. Nonperishables that come in aluminum or steel cans — think beans, chickpeas, and soups — are typically thought of as a way for shoppers to economize. But the steel and aluminum tariffs could ratchet up the price of canned goods.

Robert Budway, president of the Can Manufacturers Institute, told the Associated Press that manufacturers have become increasingly reliant on imported materials in recent years and that it’s American families who will most likely bear the increased tariff costs. 

Baker, the economist from The Center For Economic and Policy Research, didn’t have an exact estimate but said the increase to the cost of canned goods would be fairly low. “If you get $2 can of soup, maybe it would go up a cent or two,” he said.

There could be indirect price increases at the grocery store as well. Many packaged goods are made using machines with steel and aluminum machines, Baker said, meaning products like cookies could get more expensive.

Household appliances/supplies

A wide range of appliances from dishwashers and dryers to garbage disposals and air conditioners all stand to become pricier as a result of the Trump administration’s 50% steel and aluminum tariffs. 

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers did not respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment, but has said in the past that they strongly support an “integrated North American market” and have called for “common-sense” trade policies.

“It can go from the grandiose of a washing machine and a car, to the trivial, like a staple or a paper clip,” said Winegarden at the Pacific Research Institute.

Lawn mowers could also see price hikes. Baker estimates that a lawn mower that goes for $250mightcost $255 after the tariffs take effect .

“Will people notice that? Some will, some won’t,” he said. “But there’s no doubt the direction is higher — the question is how much.”

Homes

Building materials could also be impacted, which will ultimately translate to higher home prices.

In an April blog post, Realtor.com documented how the price of nails used in homebuilding has already started to increased due to tariffs. A single box of coil roofing nails could go from $65 to $325, the real estate platform predicted at the time. 

Other products used in home construction like steel fasteners could also get caught in the crosshairs of the tariffs. This bodes poorly for the housing sector — which is already facing pressure from high prices, steep mortgage rates and lack of inventory. 

“President Trump’s move to double steel and aluminum tariffs will have a negative impact on housing affordability by further disrupting building material supply chains and fueling business uncertainty,” said Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders.

Before the new 50% tariffs were introduced, the trade association estimated that tariff activity would add roughly $10,900 to the average cost of a new home.

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U.S. doubles tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50%

The United States doubled its steel and aluminum tariffs to 50% Wednesday, casting a pall on a gathering of OECD ministers as President Trump’s intensifying trade war weighs on the world economy. The boosted levies went into effect at midnight EDT.

Mr. Trump’s sweeping tariffs on allies and adversaries alike — including ones on imported steel and autos — have strained U.S. ties with trading partners and sparked a flurry of negotiations to avoid the duties.

And the pressure is mounting as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a 38-nation grouping of mostly developed countries, cut its global growth forecast on the back of the Trump levies.

Trade, consumption and investment have been affected by the tariffs, OECD chief economist Alvaro Pereira earlier told AFP, warning that the U.S. economy will see the biggest repercussions.

While some of Mr. Trump’s most sweeping levies face legal challenges, they’ve been allowed to remain in place for now as an appeals process proceeds.

Against that tense backdrop, the Paris-based grouping is holding a ministerial meeting that started Tuesday and continued into Wednesday.

U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer and European Union trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic were set to hold talks on the sidelines of the gathering, with the bloc seeking to stave off higher levies on its nations.

Similarly, U.K. Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds met with Greer Tuesday to try to avert the tariff hikes on steel and aluminum.

Despite the doubling of those tariffs, imports from the U.K. will remain at 25 percent for now while both sides work out duties and quotas in line with the terms of their recently-announced trade pact.

In their talks, Reynolds and Greer discussed a “shared desire to implement” the pact, including agreements on sectoral tariffs, as soon as possible, a U.K. readout said.

But Mr. Trump’s latest salvo raises tension with various partners.

The EU has said it “strongly regrets” Mr. Trump’s plan to raise metals tariffs, cautioning that it “undermines ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated solution” with the U.S. The bloc added that it was ready to retaliate.

Canada, the largest supplier of steel and aluminum to the U.S., has called Mr. Trump’s tariffs “illegal and unjustified.”

The Group of Seven advanced economies — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S. — is due to hold separate talks on trade on Wednesday.

“We need to come up with negotiated solutions as quickly as possible, because time is running out,” German economy minister Katherina Reiche said Tuesday on the sidelines of OECD talks.

French trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin added, “We have to keep our cool and always show that the introduction of these tariffs is in no one’s interest.”

Mexico will request an exemption from the higher tariff, Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said, arguing that it’s unfair because the United States exports more steel to Mexico than it imports. “It makes no sense to put a tariff on a product in which you have a surplus,” Ebrard said.

Mexico is highly vulnerable to Mr. Trump’s trade wars because 80 percent of its exports go to the U.S., its main trading partner.

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the Trump administration sent letters to trading partners to push for offers by Wednesday as a deadline approached.

Besides imposing 10 percent tariffs on almost all U.S. trading partners in early April, Mr. Trump had announced higher rates for dozens of economies including the EU and Japan as he sought to pressure countries to correct practices Washington deemed unfair.

Those higher rates were paused for 90 days, but the halt is due to expire July 9.

All eyes are also on rising tension around trade between Washington and Beijing.

Mr. Trump has taken special aim at China this year, at one point imposing additional levies of 145 percent on Chinese imports andtriggering Beijing’s counter tariffs of 125 percent on U.S. goods.

Both sides agreed to temporarily de-escalate in May, but Mr. Trump accused China of violating the deal.

Early Wednesday, Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social outlet that, “I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!”  

The issue was China “slow-walking the approval” of critical mineral exports and rare earth magnets, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender told CNBC on Monday. But he maintained that Washington is making “good progress” overall in talks.

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U.S. steelmakers’ shares jump after Trump hikes industry tariffs to 50%

Stocks of major U.S. steel companies jumped Monday after President Trump announced he would double tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Cleveland-Cliffs steel manufacturer was up 25.2% in early morning trading. Nucor Corp., one of the nation’s largest steel manufacturers, and Steel Dynamics, a steel producer and metals recycler, were both up 10% before the bell.

The surge in steel stocks followed an announcement by Mr. Trump on Friday that he would double tariffs on steel and aluminum from the current rate of 25% to 50%. The 25% tariffs, announced in February, were enacted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which gives the president authority to restrict imports he deems a national security threat. The new 50% tariffs are slated to take effect on June 4.

The European Union on Monday said it is preparing “countermeasures” against the United States in response to Mr. Trump’s higher tariff announcement which has roiled global markets. The 27-country trading bloc is currently in negotiations with the U.S. and has demonstrated that it is eager to strike a deal.

Mr. Trump in May announced a “planned partnership” between U.S. Steel and its Japanese competitor Nippon Steel. Few details have emerged about what exactly the $14 billion deal will look like, although the White House has said it will create “at least 70,000 jobs” and that it will “ensure steel is made in America for decades to come.”

Equity markets were not faring well early Monday. Stocks were mixed in early trading as investors continue to wrestle with uncertainty as a result of the Trump administration’s on-again, off-again tariff policy.

The markets experienced heightened volatility last week after the Court of International Trade on Wednesday sued to block tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on China, Mexico and Canada. 

Stock initially jumped Thursday after the decision was announced, but ultimately finished lower on Friday after a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. temporarily suspended the trade court’s decision

As the legal battle unfolds, the administration’s levies remain in place. The trade court’s lawsuit does not affect tariffs introduced under Section 232, which include the steel and aluminum tariffs.

contributed to this report.

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Yandle: Trump’s policy reversals — A new way to govern?

“If all else fails, push the start button, look for smoke, and repair what is burning.” During my 15 years working with industry, this was common advice when dealing with troublesome complex electric controls that just would not respond to a more scientific analysis. And it worked. Should we expect a president hellbent on changing the world order to apply the same approach?

Flipping policy switches on and off might not sound scientific, but despite chaos and missteps, there’s at least something to be said for the idea.

Maybe it’s the rush to get things done. Or perhaps it’s the fact that Trump is relying on executive orders rather than on legislation with hearings to mandate much of what he envisions. In any case, the Trump administration is now famous for hitting a policy start button, seeing smoke and then, when alarms go off, reversing position.

How else might we explain the large number of policy reversals that occurred in the president’s first 100 days back in office? Consider a handful of examples.

Just a week into his new term, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a freeze order on all federal loans and grants in an effort to make certain that all funded programs would abide by the new administration’s tamped-down Diversity, Equity and Inclusion guidelines. But the outcry from state and local governments that rely on federal funding for day-to-day operations was so loud that OMB quickly reversed its order.

Then, in February, the Trump administration announced an end of free COVID testing, a mainstay program in fighting the pandemic. When the Department of Health and Human Services indicated that the agency would thus be destroying 160 million unused tests, political alarms went off and the policy was reversed.

More famously, after growing impatient with the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee for not cutting interest rates, Trump decided to hit the start button and blow them out of the water. He called the Fed Chair Jerome Powell a “major loser” and indicated he should be fired… immediately.

When world financial markets sensed that America’s central bank was about to be run by politics, interest rates rose, respect for the dollar fell and the end of American economic exceptionalism was posited. Smoke was everywhere. Trump backed away, softened the tone of his relationship with Fed Chair Powell and moved on to tilt with other windmills.

Another tilting occurred when Trump took on China by imposing a 145% tariff on all its exports to the United States, the functional equivalent of an embargo. China responded by laying on 125% tariffs on U.S. exports and indicated a willingness to engage in a trade war or any war that became necessary.

Markets shuddered. American retailers cried foul and indicated Santa Claus’s sled would be empty. Apple and other U.S. smart phone producers offered up end-of-world industry forecasts.

In short, the circuits turned red and the smoke was dense. Trump dramatically altered his policy position. The trade war with China suddenly de-intensified, at least for the next 90 days.

Finally, Elon Musk’s DOGE activities brought its own host of circuit tests that generated smoke and reversals. There were sweeping actions taken to fire thousands of federal government workers only to rush to rehire some when it was learned that they filled critical jobs involving nuclear weapons or controlling a raging bird flu epidemic.

Some look squarely at these policy reversals and see evidence that we have the equivalent of keystone cops running the federal government — officials who don’t seem to know what they are doing, but they do it anyway. Alternatively, and in at least some of these situations, we might consider the old “push the start button and look for smoke” explanation.

In a rush to bring dramatic change, the Trump administration seems to agree with Ralph Waldo Emerson that “consistency is a hobgoblin of small minds.” When things change, they change. Policy reversals are messy, but some might be a necessary part of Trump’s intended revolution.

Bruce Yandle is a distinguished adjunct fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, dean emeritus of the Clemson College of Business and Behavioral Sciences and a former executive director of the Federal Trade Commission./Tribune News Service

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