President Donald Trump has been playing hardball with countries on trade tariffs.
Creighton University economics professor Ernie Goss says he does not think the president’s trade war is a good idea for Missouri or the U.S.
“I think we need freer trade, not restrictions to trade. We’re the strongest economy on the face of the Earth. We shouldn’t fear competition. We should engage competition,” Goss told Missourinet.
Trump’s war on tariffs is driving up the cost of coffee, cars, aluminum cans and other foreign imports.
“Our farmers, our manufacturers, are the most productive on the face of the earth. So we don’t need to build barriers and restrictions. And what we do is once said by one of the famous poets, ‘Before you build the wall, you better find out what you’re walling in and walling out. And I’m afraid we’re walling out a lot of our customers,” he said.
Goss said his monthly surveys of rural bank CEOs and manufacturing managers in several midwestern states say Trump’s trade war is resulting in retaliation.
“China has retaliated and that has really hurt agriculture,” he said. “We see that clearly in our surveys. Our bank CEO’s reported the weakest rural economy in five years. We’re down to the lows that we experienced back in the pandemic 2020. And on manufacturing side, we’ve lost jobs now for seven consecutive months.”
The White House has maintained that Trump’s trade policy is ushering in a “golden age” for the U.S. but acknowledges that there will be short term pain from the tariffs. The Trump Administration says the President’s trade and tariff agenda has resulted in unprecedented trade deals and trillions in investment commitments.
Copyright © 2025 · Missourinet
