Seeking more information on Trump's tariff plan, various networks have invited the Ford School's Justin Wolfers to share his interpretation of the administration's next steps. Wolfers has discussed with BCC, Slate, and CNN what these taxes will mean for American consumers and why Trump is pursuing support from the Supreme Court.
"Trump's Tariff Math Doesn't Add Up—and the Supreme Court Knows It" BBC, November 5, 2025 - Speaking with BBC, Wolfers mentioned two impacts he draws from the Trump Administration's tariff policies. He said that "One is the direct one, which is tariffs raise costs. Those higher costs lead to lower profits for American businesses, or when they pass them on, higher prices for American consumers." Wolfers declared that the second impact is "That America has shown itself to be a combative and often unwilling trading partner, an unreliable trading partner, and it's sort of tipped the bucket on the global trading system. You're seeing countries all around the world reorganizing, looking for more stable friends, and America's reputation, quite sadly, has never been lower among folks who otherwise would be our allies."
"Trump's Tariffs Have a Constitution Problem" Slate, November 6, 2025 - When prompted to speak on Trump's recent trip to Asia, Wolfers suggested Trump was "undoing his own messes." "Trump managed to make things better this week than they were last week, yet still far worse than they were on January 19, the day before he became president. And another short version of this is the Chinese got a lot and the Americans not very much," said Wolfers of Trump's tariff negotiations with China.
He also noted Trump's motivations for turning to the Supreme Court to enact his tariff policies. "He refuses to talk to the House. And it's because he knows he cannot get through his tariffs. We can have all the tariffs you want. You just have to win an argument. You have to win it in the House and the Senate. And he's refused to even engage in any part of that argument. He's gone running to the Supreme Court before he's bothered to call Mike Johnson and say, 'Hey, how about we try and pass this? Let's see if the American people like it.' The truth is, the Senate doesn't want it, the House doesn't want it, the American people don't want it." Wolfers asserts that Trump is attempting to bypass Congress on the proposed tariffs, knowing the policies will be shut down in the Senate and the House.
"'Outright falsehood': Economist befuddled by Trump's 'break with reality' during interview" CNN, November 11, 2025 - Wolfers claimed that many of President Trump's statements on inflation and the cost of goods in inaccurate. In conversation with CNN, he stated, "Every word the president just said is a lie, and worse than that, it's such a lie that I worry that there's literally a break with reality inside the man's mind... I can tell you that because I'm a statistics nerd, and you can go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They've got people in supermarkets all across the country, and almost every category of goods or services sees the prices rising." He explained that the increase in prices can be recognized across the country by Americans in their everyday lives. "It's not just the nerds at the BLS who see it when companies are giving their earnings reports... Every single viewer on the other side of this television set knows exactly what's happening, which is that prices are rising," declared Wolfers.
