US tariffs to have negative impact on economy: Survey

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK

U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs would have a negative impact on American economy, a survey revealed Monday.

In the survey released by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), 91 percent of business economists said current tariffs and threats to impose tariffs would negatively impact the American economy.

More than 65 percent of the participants said the U.S.' withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would also have "a consequential and unfavorable impact on the U.S. economy."

While the renegotiations of NAFTA have started last year and yet to be concluded, Trump's tariffs have already strained relations between the U.S. and China, Canada, Mexico, the European Union, and recently the strong NATO ally Turkey.

A whopping 74 percent of survey takers said economic policy should do more to mitigate income inequality, while 60 percent said they believe economic policy should do more to mitigate climate change.

Trump announced in June 2017 that he intends to withdraw the U.S. from the historic Paris Climate Change agreement, which aims to reduce global carbon emissions.

The semiannual survey of the NABE was conducted between July 19 - Aug. 2 based on the responses of 251 members of the association.