By Mohammad Ali Haqshenas
The US Supreme Court’s Friday ruling to overturn tariffs imposed under President Donald Trump has intensified scrutiny of a policy that was flawed long before facing legal challenges, says an American economist.
In an interview with the Press TV website, Charles N. Steele, Associate Professor of Economics at Hillsdale College, US, who also serves as Director of the Hutchison Center for Commerce and Freedom, said Americans have "paid the lion's share of the costs."
“It seems quite clear that Americans have paid the lion's share of the costs,” Steele said, adding that is why he had previously described Trump’s tariff strategy as an “unforced error” and “a big mistake.”
Steele does not separate the Supreme Court’s legal ruling from the underlying economics. The judges, he noted, were not judging whether tariffs work, but whether the president had the authority to impose them under the statute he chose.
“What makes tariffs an error,” Steele said, “is that they have negative consequences for the economy and people's incomes.”
Those consequences, he noted, were predictable, citing a body of empirical research showing that the burden of the tariffs fell overwhelmingly on Americans rather than on foreign exporters.
“Studies by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Kiel Institute in Germany, and JP Morgan,” Steele said, “all find that about 90% of the economic cost of Mr. Trump’s tariffs is borne by Americans.”
For Steele, that evidence—not the Court’s decision—is what ultimately confirms his criticism. “That is what confirms my view that the tariffs are an unforced error and a big mistake,” he said.....more below
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is preparing to leave the Trump administration after what a new report has described as months of tension with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, potentially triggering another change at the army’s top echelons.
According to the Friday report by The Wall Street Journal, Driscoll is expected to step down before the end of the year and could leave his post earlier. The newspaper cited people familiar with discussions over his departure.
The Journal reported that Driscoll and his family vacated the official residence assigned to the army secretary at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall this summer, a move that could indicate he was preparing to leave the position.
The reported departure would come at a time of continuing uncertainty at the top echelons of the army.
Hegseth abruptly removed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April, while Trump has not yet nominated a permanent successo....more below
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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warns the enemies that any act of aggression against the Islamic Republic will not go unanswered.
In a statement on Thursday, the IRGC issued a “stern warning” to the enemies after US forces launched strikes against the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Following the US military attack on a point on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport with aerial projectiles, the IRGC carried out new strikes targeting the US air base from which the attack originated in the wee hours of Thursday, it added.
“This response is a serious warning to the enemy that they should know the act of aggression will not go unanswered,” the IRGC emphasized.
The elite military force warned of a “more decisive” response if the enemy repeated any act of aggression.
It also said the responsibility for the consequences of any IRGC response lies with the aggressor.
The statement comes after the IRGC Navy on Thursday forced an American tanker to turn back. The tanker ...
