The Tariffs Have Some Math
Epsilon, phi, nondelegation, gold, buybacks, individual investor research and reincarnation hedging.
I do not want to write about the tariffs, because there is a pretty overwhelming consensus that they are bad, and that consensus strikes me as correct, so what can I add? “Trump Tariffs Wipe Out $2 Trillion From US Stock Market,” reports Bloomberg. “Wall Street analysts anguish over ‘Liberation Day,’” reports FT Alphaville. “You Can NOT Be Serious!,” writes my Bloomberg Opinion colleague John Authers.
Perhaps there is something interesting about the “reciprocal” tariff formula, which notionally tariffs countries based on the “unfair tariff disparities and non-tariff barriers” that they impose on US goods, but which actually tariffs countries based on their trade surplus with the US. Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove reports: