Friday, 25 April 2025
Friday, 25 April 2025
On December 22, 2024, Donald Trump named Stephen Miran as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA).
Weeks later, global markets went into a tailspin. The trigger was Trump’s 'reciprocal tariffs' and a 125 per cent tax on Chinese imports.
Behind it all was one man—Stephen Miran.
From Harvard to the White House
A Boston University graduate in economics, philosophy and mathematics, Miran earned his PhD at Harvard University under Martin Feldstein, an influential economist who once led the CEA under President Ronald Reagan. But where Feldstein preached fiscal prudence, Miran is rewriting the rules of global trade.
Miran isn’t a new face in Trump’s circle. He was a Treasury Department adviser during Trump’s first term. But this time, he’s more than just advising.
“The President has promised to rebuild our broken industrial base and pursue trade terms that put American workers and businesses first. Our military and financial dominance cannot be taken for granted, and the Trump Administration is determined to preserve them,” Miran said in a statement on April 7.
That same day, Trump’s tariff on China jumped to 104 per cent. Two days later, it kicked in.
In November 2024, still a senior strategist at Hudson Bay Capital, Miran wrote a 41-page document titled User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System. In it, he argued that tariffs are not just economic tools but 'weapons of leverage'.
Miran defended tariffs for strengthening US trade position, saying, “Tariffs deserve some extra attention. Most economists and some investors dismiss tariffs as counterproductive at best and devastatingly harmful at worst. They’re wrong.”
“One reason the economic consensus on tariffs is so wrong is because nearly all of the models that economists use to study international trade assume either no trade deficits at all, or assume that deficits are short-lived and quickly self-correct through currency adjustments,” he said.
“It is important to note here that tariffs are not levied simply to collect revenues. For example, the President’s reciprocal tariffs are designed to address tariff and non-tariff barriers and other forms of cheating like currency manipulation, dumping, and subsidies to gain unfair advantage. Revenue is a nice side effect, and if it is used in part for lowering taxes, it can help turbo-charge competitiveness improvements that boost US exports,” Miran said.
The Council of Economic Advisers, traditionally known for giving presidents neutral economic advice, now has an ideologue at the top—one who believes in tariffs, rejects traditional models and is unafraid to shake the global order.
