Kevin Hassett slams New York Fed tariff study as “shoddy,” calls for discipline over research claiming Americans bear import tax costs

KEVIN HASSETT, a top economic adviser to President Donald Trump, on Wednesday ⁠said those behind a New York Federal Reserve research paper that ​argued the costs of tariffs are borne ‌mostly by Americans should ​be punished for what he described as shoddy scholarship.

“The paper is an embarrassment,” Hassett said in ​a CNBC interview. “It’s, I think, the worst paper I’ve ⁠ever ‌seen ​in the history of ​the Federal Reserve System” and “the people associated ​with this paper should presumably be disciplined” for writing it. The paper argued that Trump’s large import tax increases are borne by those in ‌the U.S., rather than by foreigners, as the administration has long argued. The findings in the New York Fed paper have been echoed elsewhere.

Hassett, the ⁠director ‌of the White House’s National Economic Council, said the New York Fed researchers have “put out ​a conclusion which has created a lot of ​news ​that’s highly partisan based on analysis ‌that wouldn’t ​be accepted in a first semester econ class.”

The New York Fed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 The Sun Malaysia