Jensen advises on implications of a border tax

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Thursday, February 23, 2017Chicago TribuneSome of the loudest opposition to a proposed tax on imports has come from the retail industry, which sent a handful of top CEOs to meet with President Donald Trump last week and has warned that bigger tax bills could mean price hikes for customers.[…] Hart Schaffner Marx isn’t unique, said J. Bradford Jensen, a professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Most people think of companies as either importers who sell foreign-made goods to Americans or exporters who sell domestic products abroad, he said. But in the U.S., more than 90 percent of top exporters are also importers, and vice versa, Jensen said. And it’s not just big corporations — even smaller local manufacturers buy some raw materials overseas, either because it’s cheaper or because certain key components simply aren’t made at home.