Last week, President Trump announced his intention to place tariffs on steel and aluminum. Unfortunately for the president—and everyone else, should these tariffs be imposed—more than a century of economic data make it very clear that tariffs are a net negative for the economy. But what are tariffs, anyway? Why are they so awful? And, if they are, why does any country impose them? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers.

 

Quick Hits

 

United replaces bonuses with lotteries

https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2018/03/02/united-airlines-replaces-bonuses-with-lottery.html

 

China bans things

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/01/asia/china-letter-ban-trnd/index.html

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5701287/china-xi-jinping-president-winnie-the-pooh-banned/

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-reincarnation-law-20160307-story.html

Foolishness of the Week

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-ci-children-soda-bill-20180213-story.html 

Topic of the Week: Trade and Tariffs

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/03/that-was-then-this-is-now-13.html

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/23/news/economy/trump-tariff-power/index.html

http://www.walkerd.people.cofc.edu/Readings/Trade/iowacarcrop.pdf

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=61826

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_the_United_States

https://japantoday.com/category/business/toyota-us-tariffs-will-'substantially'-increase-car-prices

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/03/that-was-then-this-is-now-13.html