President-elect Donald Trump says he will enforce a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico alongside his proposed 60% tariffs on Chinese imports, sparking market volatility.
SMBC Nikko Securities America chief economist Joseph LaVorgna, who served as the National Economic Council chief economist during Trump's first term, joins Morning Brief Hosts Seana Smith and Brad Smith to discuss how Trump's second term in office will differ from his first four years.
LaVorgna says the proposed tariffs are "consistent with President-elect Trump's economic agenda, which is an integrated approach whereby you have tariffs that occur alongside low corporate tax rates, low regulations, a cutback in government spending, and abundant energy output, and essentially all those things work together to slow the offshoring to get more onshoring, more reindustrialization in the US economy and essentially build a much stronger base and tariffs are a key tool in using that agenda."
The economist adds, "I don't like when people just look at the tariffs in isolation. It's part of a total comprehensive process where everything is integrated, where companies want to come to the US because of low corporate tax rates, low regulation, cheap energy, and things that are just favorable to producing. I think that's the point in tariffs, [which] are the key tool to getting our trading partners to the table and also incentivizing companies from not leaving and, of course, foreign producers who would be tariffed effectively to come to the US."
Watch the video above for more about LaVorgna's expectations around the impact of Trump's tariff policies and his views on the Federal Reserve.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here.
This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.