President Trump has announced several tariffs in just a short time since his inauguration,
and there are signs that bigger and broader tariffs could still be ahead.
So is this mostly talk, or does Trump really intend to usher in a new era for international trade?
I think everyone needs to really buckle up here
because things are just getting started and it's likely to be even more unpredictable than the first term.
I'm Allison Nathan and this is Goldman Sachs Exchanges.
Each month I speak with investors, policymakers,
and academics about the most pressing market-moving issues for our top-of-mind report from Goldman Sachs Research.
In late February,
I spoke to Jeff Garrish to get an insider's perspective at what's driving Trump's tariff policy and what could be ahead.
Jeff served as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for Asia, Europe,
the Middle East, and Industrial Competitiveness during Trump's first term.
He's currently a partner at Shagrin Associates, a law firm that focuses on international trade law.
I started by asking Jeff what Trump is ultimately trying to accomplish with his tariff policy.
The President really has several goals with respect to his trade and tariff policies.
The first of those is to use tariffs to address unfair trade practices and correct significant trade imbalances with other countries.
You hear the President talking a lot about how other countries treat us unfairly and about the big trade deficits that we have on a bilateral basis with other countries,
as well as with the world as a whole.
So he wants to use his trade and tariff policy to address those problems that he sees.
The second goal that he has is to rebuild U.S. manufacturing and grow jobs, particularly in that sector.