WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s trade battles cost the US economy $7.8billion in lost gross domestic product in 2018, a study by a team ofeconomists at leading American universities published this week showed.
Authors of the paper said they analyzed the short-run impact of Trump’sactions and found that imports from targeted countries declined 31.5pcwhile targeted US exports fell by 11pc.
They also found that annual consumer and producer losses from higher costsof imports totaled $68.8 billion.
“After accounting for higher tariff revenue and gains to domestic producersfrom higher prices, the aggregate welfare loss was $7.8 billion,” or 0.04pcof GDP, the researchers said.
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The study was authored by a team of economists at the University ofCalifornia Berkeley, Columbia University, Yale University and University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles (UCLA) and published by the National Bureau ofEconomic research.
