讀後心得

Trump announced the implementation of a reciprocal tariff policy, imposing a 32% tariff on Taiwan, with several Southeast Asian countries facing even higher rates, such as Vietnam at 46%. Economist Paul Krugman criticized this policy as foolish, pointing out its calculation errors that only consider goods trade while neglecting services trade. He believes that such a policy will have significant impacts on the global economy and questions the lack of economic rationale behind Trump's decision-making, emphasizing the importance of credibility and predictability for investment. Krugman considers Trump's ignorance and irresponsibility to be his consistent style.

U.S. President Trump announced the implementation of a reciprocal tariff policy, imposing a 32% tariff on Taiwan, while the rates for several Southeast Asian countries are significantly higher than the baseline of 10%, with Vietnam's rate reaching as high as 46%. Renowned economists criticized this, stating that Trump's policy is foolish, and implied that the calculations for the new tariff policy seem as if generated by artificial intelligence.

The economist published an article on his platform, mentioning that the U.S. established the modern global trade system, having created the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act as early as 1934, but Trump's tariff policy exceeded everyone's expectations, and its economic impact could potentially be greater than that caused by the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which triggered the global economic depression in 1930.

He pointed out that the tariff calculations of Trump's team were highly inappropriate, only considering merchandise trade while ignoring service trade, which is a significant error. For example, even though the U.S. is at a disadvantage in merchandise trade, the trade deficit in services with the European Union largely offsets this.

The economist described Trump's method of calculation as resembling something hastily concocted by a beginner, especially with the explanations from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which felt like it was written carelessly by a student without deep thought. He even mocked such calculations and proposed policies as if one were asking an artificial intelligence model for answers.

He questioned whether such decision-making possesses economic rationality, believing these measures merely aim to display dominance and intimidate the public. He emphasized that the credibility of policies is crucial; if businesses and the international community lose trust in U.S. policies, it will weaken global investment willingness toward the U.S.

Finally, he remarked that even if Trump realizes the errors in the policy, he would not make corrections, as that would undermine the dominance he seeks to project, with ignorance and irresponsibility becoming part of his style.