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Tax cut proponents blame weak business investment on Trump trade wars

By Sean Higgins - 02/05/2020

President Trump's trade wars have undercut the economic benefits of his tax cuts, proponents of the 2017 tax code overhaul say.

Administration officials are hoping that Trump's newly signed trade deals will lead to the realization of the promised boost in investment from the tax code overhaul.

The tariffs that Trump placed on China, including steel and aluminum, constitute a $70 billion annual U.S. tax burden, according to the nonprofit group American Action Forum. That eliminates about half of the benefits to taxpayers from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduced taxes by $150 billion a year, the Tax Foundation found. 
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"We've now had ... three straight quarters where business investment has fallen," Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat and vice chairman on the Joint Economic Committee, said. "Manufacturing has contracted for three of the last four quarters. Whatever short-term boost to the economy resulted from the tax cuts has worn off."

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