Kimberly Adams

There's also an argument to be made that import taxes might not be inflationary at all and that tariffs could actually reduce inflation.

I know that all sounds contradictory, but Marketplace's Justin Ho will make it make sense.

Tariffs, by definition, are taxes on imported goods.

They make those products more expensive.

Thing is, tariff policy over the last year has been erratic, and the uncertainty that's generated has its own side effects.

Megan Schoenberger is senior economist with KPMG.

Households and firms might buy fewer big-ticket items and make fewer investments.

Companies might hold off on hiring.

In other words, the economy could slow down.

Researchers from the San Francisco Federal Reserve recently found that over the last 150 years, tariffs and all the uncertainty they create have led to lower economic activity and, as a result, lower inflation.

I will say that I actually don't find it that surprising.

That's Robert Johnson.

a professor at the University of Notre Dame.

He's also studied how tariffs can reduce inflation.

He says it's not just the uncertainty.

The president's trade policies are sending a message.

Johnson says being open to international trade allows countries to specialize on what they're good at, textiles or electronics or sophisticated technology.

And when a country focuses on what it's good at, Johnson says it makes more money.

And so if we close ourselves off to international trade, we lose the gains from that ability to focus our economic activities on the places and the things that we're best at.

Johnson says that can cause companies to start worrying about their own revenue in the future.