Trump praises tariffs at Detroit factory visit; economists point to A.I. for growth

President Trump toured a Ford Motor factory in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday and used an economic speech to praise tariffs, mentioning them more than two dozen times and saying the levies had generated trillions of dollars of investment. He also credited tariffs on social media for the strong markets, writing, “The USA markets just hit another ALL TIME HIGH — ALL OF THEM!!!” and “THANK YOU YOU MISTER TARIFF!!!” But there is little evidence in the data that tariffs are delivering broad economic benefits, economists say.

They attribute recent U.S. growth mainly to an A.I. boom — including investment in vast data centers and soaring A.I. stocks that have increased household wealth and consumption — as well as new tax deductions encouraging investment. By contrast, manufacturing appears to be struggling: surveys showed a 10th straight month of contraction in December, spending on new factories has slumped since the Biden administration, the country has shed factory jobs, and smaller manufacturers face higher input costs from tariffs.

Several economists said the United States was growing despite tariffs, not because of them. Harvard economist Gita Gopinath said the A.I. boom had “basically offset the drag from tariffs,” and Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics called U.S. growth “all A.I,” saying “it has nothing to do with trade.” Supporters of tariffs say the policies will eventually rebuild U.S.

Key Topics

Politics, Donald Trump, Dearborn, Ford Motor, Tariffs, Artificial Intelligence