Nobel laureate economist tears into 'sneeringly bogus' lie behind Trump's new tariff plot

Nobel Prize-winning economist turned political commentator Paul Krugman had a scathing review of President Donald Trump's latest attempt to impose sweeping global tariffs.

Trump has already lost multiple court battles over his tariffs. He first tried to enact a worldwide "reciprocal" import tax scheme under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), only for the Supreme Court to invalidate this. He then pushed a 10 percent global tariff under a different law, only for the Court of International Trade to rule that illegal too.

Now, he's trying again, imposing tariffs on 60 countries under Section 301 "Relief from Unfair Trade Practices" law, asserting that several of America's closest trading partners, including Canada, the U.K., the European Union, and Japan, are complicit in slave labor practices.

This is absurd, wrote Krugman, who has extensively torn apart Trump's other tariff schemes previously.

"Everyone, and I mean everyone, understands that the alleged justification for these tariffs is a lie," wrote Krugman. "There is absolutely no reason to believe that the EU is less diligent about opposing the use of slave labor than the US. For that matter, there is no reason to believe that Trump and his minions have any particular objection to slave labor. This is nothing but a transparently, one might say sneeringly, bogus rationale for continuing to flout both US law and international agreements."

It's particularly bizarre that Trump wants to die on this hill, Krugman noted, because data make clear that not only are the tariffs wildly unpopular with voters, they are failing in their basic goal of increasing domestic manufacturing, with a steady decline in manufacturing investment ever since he took office.

Unfortunately, he concluded, Trump reversing his tariff policies "would amount to admitting failure. And if you believe he’s going to do that, I have a quick, easy victory over Iran you might want to buy."