# An economist whose work was cited by US president Donald Trump’s administration to justify sweeping tariffs has said officials misinterpreted the research, and the levies should have been as little as a quarter of what the White House announced. Brent Neiman, who was a US Treasury official under previous president Joe Biden, co-authored a 2021 paper on the impact of tariffs on prices in the United States. The paper was cited in a statement released last week explaining the calculations behind the major import tariffs announced by Trump.
Economist says Trump’s administration misinterpreted his work to justify tariffs