The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has published a snark-filled reaction to August’s disastrous jobs report for President Donald Trump.
The conservative paper, owned by Rupert Murdoch, placed blame for the slowdown on Trump and his tariff crusade, which is wrecking the very industries—like mining and manufacturing—that he campaigned on saving last year.
“What Mr. Trump needs is a broad revival in business confidence of the kind that accompanied his November victory and appeared before his tax on imports and willy-nilly interventions in private business decisions,” the editorial board wrote. “Repeat after us: Tariffs are taxes, and taxes hurt economic growth.”
Figures from Thursday’s job report back up the Journal’s assertion.
As the paper noted Friday, the manufacturing sector shed 12,000 jobs last month, meaning the industry has lost 38,000 jobs in 2025. Other sectors with high tariff exposure equally suffered.
Job gains last month were mostly limited to social assistance and healthcare, which added 46,800 new jobs. The Journal noted these jobs rely on government spending.
Even with those gains, the Journal wrote that the economy has “stalled.” Last year, under former President Joe Biden, the economy added an average of 167,000 new jobs each month. Since Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs were rolled out on April 2, the average is a measly 27,000 new jobs a month.
Trump has dismissed the stalling economy by placing blame on the Federal Reserve for failing to reduce interest rates and those responsible for calculating the figures. He fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner over last month’s poor numbers, but the new numbers continue to show trouble in the jobs market.
Still, Trump has refused to relent on tariffs even as they face legal challenges. The Journal writes that the best thing for the economy would be for the issue to reach the Supreme Court and for it to rule that the administration’s import duties are illegal. A federal appeals court ruled this week that Trump’s import duties—imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—were unlawful because the act does not grant the president the authority to impose tariffs.
“Mr. Trump this week asked the Supreme Court to hear the legal challenge to his tariffs on a fast track,” the Journal wrote. “The best news for the economy would be if the Court takes up his challenge and finds them unconstitutional.”
The paper added, “That tariff golden age is still over the horizon.”
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