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Tariffs and politics: evidence from Trump's trade wars

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  • Thiemo René Fetzer
  • Carlo Schwarz
  • Thiemo Fetzer

Abstract

We use the recent trade escalation between the US, China, the European Union (EU), Canada and Mexico to study whether retaliatory tariffs are politically targeted. Using aggregate and individual-level data we find evidence that the retaliatory tariffs disproportionally targeted areas that swung to Trump in 2016, but not to other Republican candidates. We propose a novel simulation approach to construct counterfactual retaliation responses. This allows us to both quantify the extent of political targeting and assess the general feasibility. Further, the counterfactual retaliation responses allow us to shed light on the potential trade-offs between achieving a high degree of political targeting and managing the risks to ones own economy. China, while being constrained in its retaliation design, appears to put large weight on achieving maximal political targeting. The EU seems successful in maximizing the degree of political targeting, while at the same time minimizing the potential damage to its own economy and consumers.

Suggested Citation

  • Thiemo René Fetzer & Carlo Schwarz & Thiemo Fetzer, 2019. "Tariffs and politics: evidence from Trump's trade wars," CESifo Working Paper Series 7553, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7553
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    Cited by:

    1. Fetzer, Thiemo & Yotzov, Ivan, 2023. "(How) Do electoral surprises drive business cycles? Evidence from a new dataset," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 672, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    2. James Lake & Jun Nie, 2022. "The 2020 US Presidential Election and Trump's Trade War," CESifo Working Paper Series 9669, CESifo.
    3. Blanchard, Emily J. & Bown, Chad P. & Chor, Davin, 2024. "Did Trump’s trade war impact the 2018 election?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Che, Yi & Lu, Yi & Pierce, Justin R. & Schott, Peter K. & Tao, Zhigang, 2022. "Did trade liberalization with China influence US elections?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Sanyal, Anirban, 2023. "Caught in the Crossfire: How Trade Policy Uncertainty Impacts Global Trade," EconStor Preprints 272825, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Liebman, Benjamin H. & Reynolds, Kara M., 2022. "Casualties of trade wars," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    7. Timothy Besley & Thiemo Fetzer & Hannes Mueller, 2023. "How Big Is the Media Multiplier? Evidence from Dyadic News Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 10619, CESifo.
    8. Jaerim Choi & Sunghun Lim, 2023. "Tariffs, agricultural subsidies, and the 2020 US presidential election," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(4), pages 1149-1175, August.
    9. Ben G. Li & Yi Lu & Pasquale Sgro & Xing Xu, 2020. "Trump, China, and the Republicans," Discussion Papers 2020-26, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    10. Colantone, Italo & Ottaviano, Gianmarco & Stanig, Piero, 2021. "The backlash of globalization," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113860, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Pablo D Fajgelbaum & Pinelopi K Goldberg & Patrick J Kennedy & Amit K Khandelwal, 2020. "The Return to Protectionism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(1), pages 1-55.
    12. Nicholas D. Paulson & Allen M. Featherstone & Joleen C. Hadrich, 2020. "Distribution of Market Facilitation Program Payments and their Financial Impact for Illinois, Kansas, and Minnesota Farms," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(2), pages 227-244, June.
    13. Nikita Lopatin & Beverly Mendoza & Joseph M. Westenberg, 2024. "Section 301 and politics: Analysis of tariff exclusions," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 483-516, March.
    14. Sergei Guriev & Elias Papaioannou, 2022. "The Political Economy of Populism," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 753-832, September.
    15. Samar Ashour & David Rakowski & Salil K. Sarkar, 2021. "Currency risk exposure and the presidential effect in stock returns," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 45(3), pages 469-485, July.
    16. Sanyal, Anirban, 2021. "Impact of US-China Trade War on Indian External Trade," EconStor Preprints 242250, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    trade war; tariff; targeting; political economy; elections; populism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • F55 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Institutional Arrangements
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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