Nearly half think Trump’s tariffs hurt US economy: poll

Nearly half of Americans surveyed — 47 percent — believe that President Trump’s policies of imposing tariffs are harmful to the U.S. economy, nearly double the 25 percent who think the tariffs help the economy, according to a new Monmouth University poll.

The poll found that 62 percent of respondents believe that U.S. consumers will bear the brunt of the tariffs, despite Trump’s claims that China will pay for them.

Despite nearly half thinking tariffs hurt the economy, the poll also found the population split as to whether they are good, with 32 percent agreeing the tariffs are good for the country, 37 percent saying they are bad, and the rest saying they are unsure. 

{mosads}Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports and threatened to expand the list to cover another $300 billion worth. China has responded with its own retaliatory tariffs against U.S. businesses.

Trump hopes the tariffs will pressure China into striking a favorable trade deal.

A study led by a New York Federal Reserve economist found that the tariffs imposed thus far will cost a typical household $831 a year, which would nearly wipe out any tax cuts from the GOP’s 2017 tax law, while Goldman Sachs calculated that “the costs of U.S. tariffs have fallen entirely on U.S. businesses and households.”

Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in June, but the prospects of a deal have become more distant as negotiations hit a wall earlier in May.

The poll also found that Republicans, once the party of free trade, were more likely to think tariffs were positive, with 52 percent saying they were generally good, compared to 34 percent of independents and just 13 percent of Democrats.

The poll of 802 U.S. adults was conducted by telephone between May 16-20 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.