Tariffs imposed by President Trump punitive, counterproductive for the US: Matt Winkler

:

Trade tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, more tangled than the bow tie as they are, will only be punitive and counterproductive for the United States, with Americans having to pay a large part of the cost, Matt Winkler, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Bloomberg News, said here on Thursday.

Addressing students of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) on the topic ‘Trump’s Tariffs are more Tangled Than Tying a Bow Tie’, the senior journalist said the reference to the bow tie was a personal experience where he was made to shell out 10% more for acquiring a set of bow ties from the UK. “I received a letter from an international package services, an invoice, which was $6.92 government charges and $14 brokerage charges, totalling $20.92. The tariffs listed for each of the ties were 10%, 7.5%, and 7.2%, without any explanation why these rates differ,” Mr. Winkler added.

Meanwhile, the impact of the tariffs was being felt at home, as the Institute of World Economics had, in April 2025, confirmed the data already compiled by Harvard University and Yale University that 96% Americans were paying the cost of the tariffs, he added.

Referring to its impact on India, he said the country faced the biggest five-month export decline since 1960 between April and August 2025. There were at least 25 publicly traded Indian companies that received 25% or more of their revenue from the U.S. Their shares lost 11% during the past 12 months when the stock market in India gained 4%. However, while submitting their reports, they said their revenues would grow by 9%-13% in the next three years. “What should be the narrative? What should be the headline that is typically overlooked because people are not always paying attention to what the data tells us?” he asked the students.

“It has been a practice at Bloomberg since its inception: we follow the money and we also recognise that the prevailing narrative is often belied by the data,” he further said.

Giving another example, he said that during President Trump’s campaign trail and after his inauguration, he promoted the assertion that the world would benefit from drilling oil. Up until then, clean, alternative energy like solar and wind was outperforming fossil fuels in terms of investment. Bloomberg’s perusal of Standard and Poor 500 index revealed that renewable energy group of companies gained 50% and solar companies gained 36%, while traditional energy companies gained 7%. Many of the policies and pronouncements of President Trump were either unconstitutional or violative of established law and norms, he observed.

Responding to a question from N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited, whether the mid-term elections would have an impact in improving the present political scenario, Mr. Winkler said the Democrats were overwhelmingly favoured to dominate the House of Representatives and they had a chance to regain the Senate as well. “That should bring relief to the world,” he added. Sashi Kumar, Chairperson, Media Development Foundation, moderated the session.