How Trump tariff whiplash could affect Illinois families and industry

After a turbulent week in which the Trump administration both announced sweeping tariffs on nearly every US trade partner and then subsequently paused their implementation, many Americans are uncertain as to how wildly swinging markets will impact their day-to-day life. CBS News details how Illinois, one of the largest exporting states in the US with close ties to China, might be impacted whether the broadest tariffs are instated or not.

Steven Durlauf, Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, discusses how certain Illinois industries, like agriculture, will be severely impacted. Agricultural products like soybeans, corn and pork comprise a majority of Illinois' exports to China, totaling $1.48 billion. Durlauf highlights the challenges tariffs will pose for Illinois farmers, stressing the uncertainty of the current situation by saying: 

Right now we are at a position of brinkmanship; tariffs are proposed, tariffs are escalated. What nobody really knows is what the upshot is going to be. What economists call ambiguity, it's not just that we don't know what's going to happen in the future; we don't know the probability of things. It's an unusually difficult environment in which to make decisions.

Read the full article here