Experts broadly agree that the imposition of new tariffs is bad for everyone. It raises the costs of goods affected, which also lowers the demand for those goods. Both the customers and producers lose.
But the full impact of new tariffs goes beyond the first-order, direct effects on inflation and demand.
There are second-order effects to consider. These are the harder-to-measure indirect and unintended consequences of new tariffs.
Distaste for American brands is spreading 👎
The rhetoric from President Trump and his administration has offended people who live outside of the U.S. And many of those people are customers of U.S. goods. At least they were.
“U.S. tariff announcements and a more aggressive stance toward historical allies have hurt global opinions about the U.S.,” Goldman Sachs’ Joseph Briggs and Megan Peters wrote on Monday.
It’s not just hockey fans booing the U.S. national anthem. “Boycott America” has become a thing, and it’s spreading amid calls to shun iconic American brands like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola.
Below is a roundup of some of the reports of boycotts and what the affected industries mean for the U.S. economy.
