We know Trump's trade war has directly led to layoffs and plant closures while creating an atmosphere where many businesses feel like they can't invest in the future because they have no idea which way the wind is going to blow from Trump's ass, but just how large is the cumulative effect?
According to Moody’s Analytics, Trump's trade war has contributed to at least 300,000 jobs losses through a combination of layoffs, missed opportunities, and pessimism.
And that's just the beginning.
Forecasting firm Moody’s Analytics estimates that Trump’s trade war with China has already reduced U.S. employment by 300,000 jobs, compared with likely employment levels absent the trade war. That’s a combination of jobs eliminated by firms struggling with tariffs and other elements of the trade war, and jobs that would have been created but haven’t because of reduced economic activity.
The firm’s chief economist, Mark Zandi, told Yahoo Finance that the job toll from the trade war will hit about 450,000 by the end of the year, if there’s no change in policy. By the end of 2020, the trade war will have killed 900,000 jobs, on its current course. The hardest-hit sectors are manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and retail.
I'd rather not hear another peep about Democratic administrations creating "uncertainty" with talk of imposing regulations for as long as I live. I don't want to hear that Democrats are "bad for business," or whatever.
Real "uncertainty" is not knowing if you'll even have a business the next day.
That's the uncertainty of Trump as his trade war has literally wiped out access to the primary marketplace for some American businesses overnight. Many American soybean and sorghum farmers, for example, lost access to their only market.