Interview: U.S. has slim chances of achieving objectives with tariffs, says U.S. scholar

"Trump's tariff would cost the average U.S. household 2,600 U.S. dollars a year with poor members of the society suffering the most," said Khairy Tourk, professor of economics at the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

CHICAGO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- For the United States, the chances of achieving objectives with tariffs being the only tool are slim, a U.S. scholar has said.

President Donald Trump, unhappy with U.S. trade deficits, has decided to impose huge tariffs to reduce imports and deficits, said Khairy Tourk, professor of economics at the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

"For him, tariffs also serve to achieve multi-objectives such as re-industrializing the American economy, boosting employment and increasing government revenue," Tourk told Xinhua in an interview.

However, tariffs will not increase employment in industries like steel, which has long neglected investing in new technology, said the scholar.

Tourk said that Trump is also using coercion to bring investment to the United States, particularly in the chips industry, but such capital-intensive industries will generate limited employment.

Regarding the impact of tariffs on consumers, he noted that higher import prices will reduce disposable income, curbing spending on other goods and potentially causing job losses in other sectors.

"Trump's tariff would cost the average U.S. household 2,600 U.S. dollars a year with poor members of the society suffering the most," Tourk said. "The result is an economy that might be inflicted by both inflation and stagflation."

"But even a 50-percent tariff on all imports would hardly make a dent in compensating for the loss of government income," he said.■