“This will be indeed the golden age of America,” President Donald Trump proclaimed on April 2, 2025, better known as Liberation Day. On that day, the president lauded tariffs as a way to “make America wealthy again.” Americans invested in the market lost about 10% of their wealth as the market reeled with one of the worst short-term crashes in recent memory, with the Dow shedding nearly 4,600 points as it tumbled 11% over four days. The tariff regime was rolled back, then reinstated bit by bit, then ruled illegal, but tariffs fueled inflation all the while.
That was just the appetizer, according to Mark Zandi. “The higher energy and other commodity prices caused by the war threaten to do even more economic damage than the tariffs, further undermining growth and pushing inflation higher,” the Moody’s Analytics chief economist said in a post on X.
