Why Tariffs Can't Rebuild American Manufacturing | The Professor Is In
Platypus Economics with Justin WolfersShow Notes
Why did Trump's tariffs fail? It's a competence problem, not just a trade-theory problem. Economist Justin Wolfers answers your questions about why the Trump administration's tariffs earned straight F's on their own stated goals. His argument: the problem isn't only the economics of tariffs — it's chaotic, incoherent implementation. When a policy exists on Monday, is gone by Tuesday, and gets thrown out by a court on Thursday, you'd be crazy to build a 50-year factory around it. Across-the-board tariffs give you no leverage over China, targeting friendly Canada over fentanyl sets no clear incentives, and skipping Congress means the next president erases the whole thing with a pen. Justin warns the real lesson isn't "tariffs don't work" — it's that incompetent tariffs don't. This is happening to you: two-to-one, Americans oppose these tariffs, and the higher prices land in your grocery cart and your next big purchase, not on foreigners. Justin also pushes back on "manufacturing fetishism" — arguing that what you actually want for your kids may be a keyboard, not steel-toed boots — and closes on why AI, unlike past economic shifts, may hit knowledge workers like you fast enough to really sting. Chapters: 0:00 The report card: straight F's 1:10 How to raise your grade: study economics 2:38 Why chaos kills factory investment 3:41 Across-the-board tariffs give no leverage 9:17 No Congress, no lasting power 10:51 America's standing has fallen 11:46 Americans are on Canada's side 13:45 The manufacturing jobs fetish 18:03 Will AI do to white-collar work what robots did to factories? This is an episode of … Want your question answered next time? Subscribe and comment: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
More from Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers
Unemployment is low, inflation has cooled, and by most hard numbers the economy is doing okay — yet Americans sound miserable. Consumer sentiment this summer sat at 52, roughly where it was in May 1980, when unemployment was nearly twice as high and inflation was running around 14%. Justin Wolfers thinks he's cracked the puzzle: the 30-point gap between how you feel and how the economy is actually performing lines up almost exactly with how little Americans trust the people running economic policy right now. In this office-hours episode, producer Augusta Chapman tries to poke holes in that story, and Justin defends it. Does the gloom cause the distrust, or the other way around? Does sentiment even matter if you keep spending anyway? Subscribe: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com the Podcast 👉 https://platypuseconomics.com/podcast Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
Tax-free red dye diesel won't make a single extra drop — so who really pays for it? President Trump signed an executive order letting truckers fill up with red dye diesel — the cheaper, untaxed fuel normally reserved for tractors and bulldozers — and the White House says it'll save truckers about $60 a tank. In this "Professor Is In" episode, Justin Wolfers and producer Augusta Chapman take your questions and show why the tax-free diesel policy creates no new fuel at all. There's only so much diesel in the world, so every gallon truckers gain, farmers lose. Subscribe: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com the Podcast 👉 https://platypuseconomics.com/podcast Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
Why is inflation rising faster than your wages? It's a cost-push energy shock, not the good kind. Justin Wolfers and Bloomberg's Stacey Vanek Smith dig into the latest inflation report on Off the Clock, and the news isn't fun: prices are climbing 3.7% while wages crawl along at 3%, which means the average American — maybe you — is quietly falling behind. Justin walks through the difference between demand-pull inflation (the economy runs hot, prices rise, but your paycheck rises too) and cost-push inflation (energy and tariffs push costs up, prices rise, and nobody hands you a raise). Guess which one we're living through. Along the way, Justin grades new Fed chair Kevin Warsh (forecasters gave him a shaky report card), explains why computers are suddenly getting pricier again, and announces the first-ever Platypus Economics Halloween costume contest. Subscribe: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com the Podcast 👉 https://platypuseconomics.com/podcast Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
Prices rose 3.7% over the past year, core inflation is stuck around 2.6%, and your paycheck is buying less than it used to — yet it feels like everything costs way more than that. Economist Justin Wolfers sits down with producer Augusta Chapman for office-hours-style answers to your questions: why your gut says prices doubled. Subscribe: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com the Podcast 👉 https://platypuseconomics.com/podcast Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
The latest inflation report just dropped, and Justin Wolfers digs into why it's worse than Wall Street expected. Headline inflation came in at an eye-popping 3.7% — well above the Fed's 2% target — and core inflation is stuck above 2.6%. The really worrying part is the latest month: prices rose 0.6% in a single month, and whatever momentum was pulling inflation back toward normal seems to have vanished.