Trump: a ridiculous ego and incredibly ignorant
The analysis underpinning Donald Trump’s tariff policy is fatally flawed. Thus, it will fail to achieve its objective of restoring the living standards of his MAGA supporters.
Recent articles in Economy
17 April 2025
Xi pushes for fair trade after Trump tariffs land
After President Donald Trump’s decision to exempt selected electronic goods from tariffs, the gloves are temporarily off between Washington and Beijing. However, though some sanity has returned to the White House, the damage has already been done.
16 April 2025
Memo Dutton: Good economic managers don’t try to panic the punters
A problem in economics is that you can’t use the economy to experiment.
16 April 2025
When elephants clash: The strategic logic behind Trump’s tariffs and China’s response
The world is mesmerised — and unsettled — by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
15 April 2025
In a broken world, China-Japan-Korea co-operation is Asia’s backbone
By blending economic might, technological prowess and cultural bonds, co-operation can be elevated into a transformative, inspiring force.
15 April 2025
How to lose friends and help rivals
If the US wanted to thrust Indonesia into the strategic political orbit of China, it couldn’t have found a better way than imposing a 32% tariff on imports from the archipelago.
14 April 2025
Why cap the number of university students from abroad?
Having been unable to pass legislation, the Albanese Labor Government (as it likes to be called) decided in 2024 to use the “slow student visa process” to reduce international student numbers because of the problems they cause in taking houses and jobs from Australians.
14 April 2025
America's trade revolution: From architect to antagonist
Donald Trump called it liberation day, the day he chose to announce tariffs on most countries around the world. But there will be no liveration for Americans who will end up paying grossly inflated prices for goods from abroad.
13 April 2025
Sherlock Holmes investigates the wages explosion that never was
I like to imagine that, if Arthur Conan Doyle were still alive, and had turned his creation, Sherlock Holmes, to solving the economic mysteries of the 21st century, he would have written this conversation:
12 April 2025
How an imaginary expert crashed the world economy
On 16 December 1773, the Boston Tea Party (a protest against de facto tariffs on imports) marked the start of the American colonies’ liberation from British rule.
10 April 2025
US tariff policies strengthening China's position in Asia
In geopolitics, there are no permanent friends or enemies, but there are permanent interests. While many countries in Southeast Asia have tried to maintain their economic ties with the US and China, President Donald Trump's economic and tariff plans are inadvertently helping China strengthen its position in Asia.
10 April 2025
Build, baby, build! But that won’t fix it all
Australia is spending billions trying and still failing to get people into decent homes they can afford. Some more radical options could be on the table.
