Adjunct Professor Matt Gold was quoted in a GQ article about the European Union’s proposal to levy tariffs on American brands like Harley Davidson motorcycles and Levi’s blue jeans.
“It’s purely political,” says Matt Gold, adjunct professor of Law at Fordham University and a former U.S. trade official under President Barack Obama. “[The EU] know Trump has to play to his constituency and they know the nature of his constituency ,and so they immediately started talking about Harley Davidsons and Levi’s and various products that they feel are associated with America and Americana that’s at the core of Donald Trump’s constituency.”
So while taxing denim and motorcycles might not have the most monetary upside for the EU, it takes a hit at companies near and dear to America’s heart. Motorcycles painted with flames or the jeans worn by enterprising gold rushers are as American as apple pie. And brands like Levi’s seem to be hand-selected specifically for press, too—to create the sort of headlines that would reach, and affect, a Trump constituent. (Levi’s did not respond to a request for comment.) “They’re highly visible and they grab media attention,” says Gold. “Think of the media placements that Trump constituents read that will grab a story involving Harley or Levi’s.” Gold suggests that the choice pushes media exposure beyond the typical outlets that would typically cover tariffs—to places like, say, this very website.
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[E]conomists told Bloomberg that the newly signed Trump tariffs, along with the ones threatened by the EU, could cause a “$470 billion hit to the global economy.” The ripples will be felt dramatically worldwide—and, the EU hopes, resonate deeply in the reddest of red states where brands like Levi’s are inextricably linked to “rugged individualist Americans in rural areas, which are in turn associated with Trump’s constituents,” says Gold. All of which casts into doubt what Trump tweeted when his tariffs were first announced. “Trade wars are good,” he wrote, “and easy to win.”