A former senior economic adviser to US President Donald Trump has criticised the president’s approach to tariffs and said that the US might be wiser in reducing its corporation tax, like Ireland.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser to President Trump’s 2016 campaign and a fellow of the Heritage Foundation, said he admired Ireland’s corporate tax rate.
He added that he would prefer to see the US reduce its corporation tax rather than raise its tariffs.
“Ireland has the lowest corporate tax rate in virtually the world,” Mr Moore said.
“We’ve always pointed to Ireland as the model for what the United States should do. Better than raising our tariffs would be for the United States to bring our corporate rate down to 15%, which would get closer to where Ireland is.
“As Ireland has proven to the whole world, tax rates matter a lot. When corporate tax rates are reduced, you see a lot of investment in your country,” he added.
Mr Moore said he was fearful that Mr Trump’s tariff plan would cost American jobs.
“One of the ironies is that we are trying to protect our manufacturing base in the United States and our hard working Americans who work blue collar jobs.
“But I do worry that the aluminium and steel tariffs and the other tariffs could actually cost US jobs in those industries because they are going to make these products more expensive,” he said.
“So we will see how it turns out. It is all in a bit of flux, right now,” he added.
However, Mr Moore added that he considers President Trump a “master negotiator” and believes he will win a trade war.
Mr Moore said that the talk of the tariffs has already been bad for the stock market.
He said that if the talk of tariffs would get other countries to lower their tariffs on US goods then that is a good thing.
“China is a dangerous country and we probably need to impose tariffs on China because I think they are a national security risk. I think they do not play by the rules.
“Some of these other tariffs, like the auto tariffs and steel, I think are not productive and they could actually lead to a loss of jobs and a loss of businesses,” he added.
Mr Moore said he would like to see the EU being forced to reduce its tariffs on American products.
“Particularly on agricultural products and things like the value-added taxes and others that sort of discriminate against US production.
“So I think Trump has a strong case to make to the European Union that you need to lower your tariffs, which are two to three times higher than our tariffs on your products and if you do not, we will raise our tariffs,” he said.
“At the end of the day, if the Europeans were to agree to that, it would be better for both the Europeans and for the United States,” he added.
Mr Moore said that if EU leaders know what is good for them, they will agree to reduce tariffs.
“He is not asking for anything unreasonable,” Mr Moore said, adding that a trade war would hurt the EU more than the US.
“In the end, I think the Europeans will be forced to reduce their tariffs. There could be damage in the meantime.
“I think most Americans agree that what Trump is demanding of the Asians and the Europeans, Mexico and Canada is not unreasonable. It is very reasonable,” he said.
