NEW YORK: The United States may lose up to 150,000 jobs if its trade partners were to react with a "proportional response" to U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, Moody's Analytics' chief economist Mark Zandi said on Wednesday.
If these trade partners were to refrain from responding, possible U.S. job losses, mostly in manufacturing, would be fewer in the 50,000 to 60,000 range. Those layoffs would be offset by a projected 10,000 to 15,000 in hiring by domestic steel and aluminum producers, Zandi said.
Zandi was speaking on a conference call to reporters after the release of the ADP National Employment Report for February earlier Wednesday, which showed a 235,000 increase in private hiring.
The ADP jobs report was jointly developed by ADP Research Institute and Moody's Analytics.