Trump's most worrying appointment for trade: Peter Navarro

© Daniel Raustadt

Forbes has published an excellent article on Donald Trump’s appointment of Peter Navarro to head the White House National Trade Council. Writer Tim Worstall first removes the political from his argument, pointing out that it is not simply that he doesn’t agree with Mr Navarro. He instead shows that Mr Navarro’s views on trade are simply, factually wrong on two counts. The first is that trade is not a zero sum game, as Mr Navarro believes.  “It’s a voluntary exchange – and thus by definition must be beneficial to both parties…It’s also simply not true that the US has lost its manufacturing base,” he continues. His second issue is that Mr Navarro believes that VAT favours exports and harms imports. But VAT is entirely neutral. An interesting analysis of economics and trade.