Nassim Taleb Says Trump’s Approach to Tariffs ‘Makes No Sense’

The Black Swan author Nassim Taleb said President Donald Trump’s approach to tariffs will depress US gross domestic product and could soon lead to labor shortages.

Taleb, who’s also scientific adviser for hedge fund Universa Investments, said tariffs may be necessary, but they need to be “symmetric.” Much of the US economy is based on cheap labor and constraining that input will have real knock-on effects, he said.

“The way they’re going about it makes no sense,” Taleb said Tuesday on Bloomberg TV, referring to Trump and his economic advisers. The administration is trying to encourage lower-value added-business ...