Tariffs on TikTok: WSU economist takes education to social media

Washington State University economist Chris Clarke had a busy weekend.

It began Friday when the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out most of President Trump's tariffs - upending his key economic initiative and removing an estimated tax burden of roughly $1,000 per U.S. household.

Clarke, who excels at explaining complex economic concepts in ways general audiences can understand, got right to work, preparing his next social media reel. Within a few hours, he'd posted a video explaining the tariff decision.

@econchrisclarke Tariffs Are Illegal!! Supreme Court Rules 6-3 against the administration. Which tariffs exactly? What does it matter for a household? What will happen next? All in the video. #economy #economics #government #news #chart ♬ original sound - EconChrisClarke

However, the president quickly announced he would impose other tariffs under a different legal authority.

Time for another video.

@econchrisclarke Replacrment tariffs are dubiois. White House claims section 122 authority due to a Balance of Payment Deficit and cited our Trade Deficit. But even his own lawyers already argued in court that a "Trade Deficit is a distinct concept from a Balance of Payments deficit." #economy #economics #chart #government #tariff ♬ original sound - EconChrisClarke

Clarke has become an ever-more-visible presence on TikTok and other social media platforms, where his lively, plain-language explanations of economics have drawn a following. Clarke does not fit the stereotypical mold of an economist: Sporting a Gandalfian beard, wearing T-shirtsand occasionally bringing his Australian shepherd mix, Maple, on for a cameo, he's bringing clarity to the world of economics in an engaging, accessible way.

His largest audience is on TikTok, where he has more than 150,000 followers, but he also uses Instagram and other platforms.

"Education doesn't end once the bell rings or the degree is earned," said Clarke, an assistant professor in the School of Economic Sciences. "The role of a teacher, especially at a public university, is to reach as many people as possible. If academics aren't involved in the public discourse, somebody else will be. What good is knowledge created through research if it is not disseminated?"

The approach is working. In a medium known for divisiveness, Clarke's accounts include a healthy mix of appreciative comments from followers and other viewers. He's posted videos about subjects ranging from the effects of vaccine mandates to caps on credit-card interest rates.

After the Supreme Court's 6-3 rulingcame out, Clarke researched and wrote a script and posted a reel within hours: The justices had struck down the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which included the Liberation Day tariffs and the fentanyl-related tariffs imposed on China, Mexico, and Canada.

These measures accounted for roughly three-quartersof the president's overall tariff program, and had brought in between $130 billion and $160 billion.

Like most economists, Clarke says tariffs are a tax that ultimately falls on consumers. The nonprofit Tax Foundation has estimated the 2025 impact of the IEEPA tariffs at $1,000 per household. (The cost of the remaining tariffs, imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, is estimated at $400 per household for 2026.)

If you use the models at the time tariffs were imposed, in my social media communication as well as from lots of economists, we all said, 'these tariffs are not going to be a benefit, they're going to be a cost.'

Chris Clarke, assistant professor
Washington State University

In macroeconomic terms, the tariffs have had "real but modest" effects on everything from the unemployment rate to GDP, as Clarke explained.

Most of these effects were predicted by economists.

"If you use the models at the time tariffs were imposed, in my social media communication as well as from lots of economists, we all said, 'these tariffs are not going to be a benefit, they're going to be a cost,'" he said in an interview.

Most economists predicted a negative effect on Gross Domestic Product of around half a percentage point, and new statistics just showed that the GDP in 2025 was about a half-percentage-point below 2024, he said. Similar effects were predicted, and then occurred, with employment and inflation, as well, he said.

"That's what we were predicting - we're going to have a slowdown," he said. "The prognosticated effect of the tariffs were modestly bad, but not catastrophic."

The fact that the IEEPA tariffs were struck down could have had a modestly positive effect on the economy, but the picture isn't clear because of the president's immediate imposition of other tariffs. Citing authority under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, Trump announced 10% tariffs on Friday, and then increased that to 15% a day later.

That section of law permits temporary tariffs for 150 days in cases where there are "large and serious" balance-of-payments deficits. But - as Clarke explained in a video over the weekend - there are no such deficits, and the administration's lawyers have argued as much in court filings. Balance of payments is an overall measure of economic activity flowing into and out of a country's economy; the trade deficit is just a portion of this.

The U.S. does not have a balance-of-payment deficit, as Clarke and other economists have explained. The trade deficit is balanced by foreign investment in the U.S.

"All the money leaving our country to pay for imports comes back either to pay for our exports or to invest in our country," Clarke said in his video, as he pointed to an economic chart. "It's not just theory. Look at this: A trade deficit … is perfectly balanced by an investment surplus. The dollars come home, baby!"

For now, the state of tariffs is clouded in uncertainty, in ways that can affect everything from household budgets to international trade deals. However things eventually settle out, the uncertainty itself is a drag on the economy, Clarke said.

"We know it's going to be costly - the uncertainty itself increases costs," said Clarke. "If you're a business, and you're wanting to expand, you're wanting to do something, but there's all this uncertainty about tariffs, especially if you're a business that relies on imports to function, are you going to hire a lot of people this year? No. The uncertainty alone increases costs on the economy."