Despite his commerce secretary's rose-tinted talk about millions of Americans “screwing in little screws to make iPhones,” US President Donald Trump’s import tariffs will not revive US manufacturing employment. They will do the opposite, while also raising consumer prices, slowing economic growth, and increasing unemployment.

WASHINGTON, DC – On “Liberation Day,” US President Donald Trump declared that sky-high tariffs would cause jobs to “come roaring back into our country.” Not long after, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expanded on this point in a television interview: “The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones – that kind of thing is going to come to America.”