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Help for the Heartland? The Employment and Electoral Effects of the Trump Tariffs in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • David Autor
  • Anne Beck
  • David Dorn
  • Gordon H. Hanson

Abstract

We study the economic and political consequences of the 2018-2019 trade war between the United States, China and other US trade partners at the detailed geographic level, exploiting measures of local exposure to US import tariffs, foreign retaliatory tariffs, and US compensation programs. The trade-war has not to date provided economic help to the US heartland: import tariffs on foreign goods neither raised nor lowered US employment in newly-protected sectors; retaliatory tariffs had clear negative employment impacts, primarily in agriculture; and these harms were only partly mitigated by compensatory US agricultural subsidies. Consistent with expressive views of politics, the tariff war appears nevertheless to have been a political success for the governing Republican party. Residents of regions more exposed to import tariffs became less likely to identify as Democrats, more likely to vote to reelect Donald Trump in 2020, and more likely to elect Republicans to Congress. Foreign retaliatory tariffs only modestly weakened that support.

Suggested Citation

  • David Autor & Anne Beck & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson, 2024. "Help for the Heartland? The Employment and Electoral Effects of the Trump Tariffs in the United States," NBER Working Papers 32082, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32082
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    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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