Opinion
Trump’s support skews NC voters’ take on tariffs
Republicans who side with the president blunt opposition to a policy that raises consumer prices.
Opinion
Latest CJ poll shows nuanced NC voter opinion on tariffs
Having all of these data points allows us to see the fairly nuanced views of the average NC voters on a subject as complex as tariffs.
Opinion
Trump tariffs look a lot like central planning
In a free society, it is not the president’s — nor government’s — role forcibly to direct the labor market and production output to their desired outcomes. That’s what big-government central planning looks like.
Opinion
Searching Sowell for wisdom about tariffs’ likely impact
A renowned economist from North Carolina highlights the history of tariffs' negative unintended consequences.
Opinion
New import taxes are a bad bet
During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump promised sky-high tariffs on products from China and across-the-board taxes on imports from other countries. Now president-elect, Trump has already pitched the idea of levying 25% taxes on Mexican and Canadian imports to the US, blaming those governments for failing to arrest the cross-border flow of illicit drugs and...
Opinion
Tariffs would hit NC’s economy hard
Instead of leaning into protectionism, North Carolina and the nation would benefit from trade policies that enhance competitiveness and encourage growth.
Opinion
Give peace a chance — on trade
Former President Donald Trump has proposed an across-the-board tariff tax of 10% on all imports. How would such an increase in protectionist central planning affect our economy? Barry Goodwin suspects it would be disastrous. A William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University, Goodwin wrote in a recent...
Opinion
Trusting healthy North Carolinians to choose about reopening our economy
The professional left’s work-equals-death argument is an irresponsible misrepresentation of the movement to reopen North Carolina’s economy, which has been devastated by state and local government mandated shutdowns and the resulting job losses and business closures. The argument implies a profound lack of trust in our fellow North Carolinians to make wise decisions about themselves...
Opinion
Trade is always and everywhere reciprocal
There is a puzzling expression regularly being used by members of the Trump administration that, they argue, describes a major goal of their protectionist trade policies: “reciprocal trade.” The expression is troubling because, as an economist, I understand that all trade, by definition, is reciprocal. It is best to think of a trade as simply two parties...
Opinion
Economy weakens Democrats’ case
Democrats have a message of change, resources, and in some cases talented candidates to deliver the message. But to an increasingly optimistic electorate, it may end up sounding off-key.
Opinion
North Carolina thrives on trade
Levying tariffs to jack up steel prices will hurt other manufacturing firms, which employ vastly more North Carolinians (and other Americans) than the steel companies do.
