Tariffs hurt global trade: Experts

Protectionism 'addictive', undermines US' own economic health, panelists say

The tariff policies of the United States are like an "addictive drug" that could destabilize the global trade system and undermine its own economic health, according to experts at a World Salon and Institute for China-America Studies event earlier this month.

Randall Morck, Stephen A. Jarislowsky Distinguished Chair at the University of Alberta and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, said at the event titled "The Ripple Effect of Trump's Reciprocal Tariffs" that the US tariffs are creating a "nation of corporate fentanyl addicts" in the US. He argued that companies, once hooked on lobbying for protection, abandon innovation for political favors."Trade protectionism is like fentanyl. It's addictive to corporations because once they get into it, they just can't get out of it," Morck said.

He mentioned Argentina's economic decline under high tariffs, predicting that the US could face lower productivity, reduced living standards and a loss of global competitiveness if the policy persists.