President Donald Trump is insisting that his hotly debated policies — from mass deportations to steep tariffs to his "big, beautiful bill," now being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives after narrowly passing in the U.S. Senate — will greatly benefit the U.S. economy. But Trump's critics have a very different view, arguing that tariffs and mass deportations will hurt American businesses and that the draconian Medicaid and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) cuts in his megabill will imperil vulnerable Americans.
Two articles published by Axios on July 2 — one on tariffs, the other on deportations — detail the effects that Trump's policies are having on U.S. businesses.
According to Axios' Courtenay Brown, Trump's tariffs "add about $82 billion in total new costs for all mid-sized U.S. companies, per a new estimate — a sum that would more than double if rates return to levels seen at the height of trade tensions in April."
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The $82 billion figure that Brown cites comes from a newly published JPMorganChase Institute study. Those tariff-related expenses, according to Brown, "could force" business owners "to shrink costs elsewhere, perhaps via layoffs."
JPMorganChase Institute President Chris Wheat, who co-authored the study, told Axios, "The cost amounts to 3 percent of their payroll — it's meaningful that they are paying that much to compensate for the tariffs."
Meanwhile, Axios' Emily Peck reports that Trump's "immigration crackdown is hitting key pockets of the economy, disrupting workplaces and communities around the country."
Peck explains, "Why it matters: The sharp fall in immigration this year threatens to slow down economic growth, particularly in the sectors and cities that relied on newcomers to the U.S. in recent years…. There will be fewer workers to produce goods and services, slowing down growth and putting pressure on wages."
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Peck notes that economist Bernard Yaros, in a report for Oxford Economics, warned that the U.S. economy "will find itself slightly diminished in the long run, and inflation will run a touch higher."
"Yaros estimates in the long run, GDP will be 0.25 percent lower as a result," Peck reports. "That's a relatively modest macroeconomic effect, but there's a wild card. The 'big, beautiful bill' that passed the Senate contains about $175 billion for even more immigration enforcement.
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Read Courtenay Brown's full article for Axios at this link and Emily Peck's Axios reporting here.