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The U.S. announced it is moving to impose tariffs imports from the European Union, following a ruling from the World Trade Organization (WTO) earlier on Wednesday that authorized Washington to go ahead with tariffs.
Kate Bronfenbrenner
Director of Labor Education Research
Kate Bronfenbrenner, senior lecturer at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, says that the WTO’s decision gives Trump the option to use tariffs as a distraction from domestic issues at the expense of jobs beyond the airline industry - where the trade dispute originated.
Bronfenbrenner says:
“There is never a good time for the U.S. and the European Union to try to settle major trade disputes, particularly two as big as the Airbus/Boeing disputes. But this is the worst of times.
“Trump wants to distract from his troubles at home and in his playbook. For him that means a series of attention-grabbing tariffs on $7.5 million EU products ‘authorized by the WTO’ might be more tempting than a settlement that is quickly over and done.
“The tariffs and counter tariffs will not only threaten hundreds of thousands of good union jobs in the airline industry but also jobs in the general manufacturing and agricultural sectors.”
