IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/128326.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Tariffs versus subsidies: protection versus industrial policy

Author

Listed:
  • Rickard, Stephanie

Abstract

In 2025, the United States raised tariffs to rates not seen for more than a century. These tariffs were not part of a carefully designed industrial strategy. Instead, the second Trump administration distanced itself from existing industrial policy initiatives and indicated a desire to roll back government-funded subsidies for businesses. This article examines the rationale behind the United States’ pivot from subsidies to tariffs and explores implications for trade partners and multilateral institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Rickard, Stephanie, 2025. "Tariffs versus subsidies: protection versus industrial policy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 128326, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:128326
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/128326/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wolfgang Mayer & Raymond Riezman, 2013. "Voter Preferences for Trade Policy Instruments," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Raymond Riezman (ed.), International Trade Agreements and Political Economy, chapter 11, pages 169-183, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Michele Ruta & Monika Sztajerowska, 2025. "Shifting Advantages: Do Subsidies Shape Cross-Border Investment?," IMF Working Papers 2025/080, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Bruce A. Blonigen, 2019. "Tariff-Jumping Antidumping Duties," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 5, pages 179-203, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Baldwin, Robert E, 1989. "The Political Economy of Trade Policy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 119-135, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Moder, Isabella & Spital, Tajda, 2025. "The protectionist gamble: How tariffs shape greenfield foreign direct investment," Working Paper Series 3144, European Central Bank.
    2. Bin, Sheng, 2000. "The Political Economy of Trade Policy in China," Working Papers 10/2000, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Management, Politics & Philosophy.
    3. Kjersti Nes & K. Aleks Schaefer, 2022. "Retaliatory use of public standards in trade," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 142-161, January.
    4. Josh Ederington & Jenny Minier, 2003. "Is environmental policy a secondary trade barrier? An empirical analysis," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 137-154, February.
    5. Aksel Erbahar & Yuan Zi, 2015. "Cascading Trade Protection: Theory and Evidence from the U.S," CTEI Working Papers series 04-2015, Centre for Trade and Economic Integration, The Graduate Institute.
    6. Dobrin R. Kolev & Thomas J. Prusa, 2021. "Dumping and double crossing: The (in)effectiveness of cost-based trade policy under incomplete information," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Thomas J Prusa (ed.), Economic Effects of Antidumping, chapter 7, pages 129-152, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Cole, Matthew T. & Davies, Ronald B., 2011. "Strategic tariffs, tariff jumping, and heterogeneous firms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 480-496, May.
    8. Hong, Tongtong & Pyun, Ju Hyun, 2024. "FDI and import competition and domestic firm's capital structure: Evidence from Chinese firm-level data," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    9. Breinlich, Holger & Leromain, Elsa & Novy, Dennis & Sampson, Thomas, 2020. "Voting with their money: Brexit and outward investment by UK firms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    10. Filomena Pietrovito & Alberto Franco Pozzolo & Luca Salvatici, 2016. "Internationalization choices: an ordered probit analysis at industry level," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 561-594, March.
    11. Richardson, Martin, 2006. "Third party anti-dumping: A tentative rationale," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 759-770, September.
    12. Feestra, R.C. & Lewis, T.R. & Mcmillan, J., 1989. "Designing Policies To Open Trade," Papers 349, California Davis - Institute of Governmental Affairs.
    13. Panova, Elena, 2015. "A passion for voting," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 44-65.
    14. César Calderón & Alberto Chong, 2005. "¿Fomentan las democracias conductas de procura de rentas?," Research Department Publications 4416, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    15. Chung, Sunghoon & Lee, Joonhyung & Osang, Thomas, 2016. "Did China tire safeguard save U.S. workers?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 22-38.
    16. Saha, Amrita, 2019. "Trade policy & lobbying effectiveness: Theory and evidence for India," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 165-192.
    17. Mai, Chao-Cheng & Peng, Shin-Kun & Tabuchi, Takatoshi, 2008. "Economic geography with tariff competition," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 478-486, September.
    18. Daryna Grechyna, 2021. "Trade openness and political distortions," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 644-663, November.
    19. Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang & Zhang, Yan, 2013. "How do exporters respond to antidumping investigations?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 290-300.
    20. H.W. Arndt, 1994. "The political economy of reciprocity. A reply," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 47(190), pages 115-116.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:128326. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.