WASHER-DRYER SURCHARGE: President Trump's tariffs on imported washing machines cost U.S. consumers about $1.5 billion a year, according to a paper released Monday by economists at the Federal Reserve and the University of Chicago, David Harrison reports for the Wall Street Journal. The Trump administration announced in January 2018 a 20 percent duty on the first 1.2 million washing machine imports per year; the duty rises to 50 percent after that. Foreign appliance makers such as Samsung and LG Electronics Inc. responded by saying they'd boost production in the U.S. and hire up to 1,600 new workers following the tariff. Whirlpool, based in Michigan, announced that the actions would allow the company to add 200 new positions at its Ohio plant.
But consumers footed the bill for those 1800 new jobs, at a cost, the paper said, of $817,000 per job. The price of washers in the U.S. rose at about 12 percent due to the tariffs, and dragged up the price of dryers, which are frequently sold with washers in a single bundle, by the same amount. "The tariffs also produced $82.2 million in new government revenue between February 2018 and January 2019," Harrison writes. More here.
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