[There] is little evidence in the data to support the idea that tariffs are conveying broad economic benefits. U.S. growth has been strong in recent months, but economists say that has been driven primarily by the boom in artificial intelligence. The construction of vast data centers is boosting investment, while soaring A.I. stocks are making Americans who invested in the stock market richer, encouraging more spending on goods and services.
New tax deductions that were signed into law last year are also encouraging investment. But manufacturing — the sector that tariffs are designed to help — appears to be struggling. Surveys show that manufacturing contracted for a 10th straight month in December, and spending on new factories has slumped since the Biden administration.
The United States has steadily shed factory jobs in recent months. Any gains in the country’s anemic job market last year were almost entirely from the health care sector. Smaller manufacturers in particular seem to be reeling from a higher cost of inputs, like metal and machinery, that have been hit by tariffs.
Jennifer Rankin and Richard Partington at The Guardian:
Over the weekend the president said that a 10% tariff would apply on all goods shipped to the US from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland from 1 February unless they allow him to seize Greenland. Trump said that if a deal is not reached for the “complete and total purchase” of the Arctic island from Denmark, the rate would be increased to 25% on 1 June. In response, EU leaders have threatened to deploy the bloc’s anti-coercion instrument (ACI) – widely known as the “big bazooka” – which was devised to give the EU more powerful tools to respond to political bullying and trade blackmail from another country.