Former President Trump is going all in on the idea of tariffs as a way of lifting the U.S. economy, bucking criticism from think tanks, labor and big business alike.

Trump's plans include a general tariff on imported goods and an additional tariff specific to imports from China, one of the US's main trading partners. So far, Trump hasn't talked much, if at all, about exemptions to his proposed tariffs, which could grate against trade deals the US has with many different countries.

Here's what Trump says he would do in a second term, and what his supporters and critics say of those plans.

A 10-20 percent tax on all foreign goods

Trump has variously proposed a general tariff of 10 percent and 20 percent on all imported goods in order to pull investment into the U.S. and bolster domestic industry.

Such a move would be a significant escalation of Trump's protectionist trade policies, which included steep tariffs on Chinese goods and a renegotiation of NAFTA during his first term.

“It’s going to have a massive effect — positive effect. It’s going to be a positive effect,” Trump said during an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago last week.

“It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs as being negative and then have somebody explain to you that you’re totally wrong.”

Economists caution that a general tariff could run afoul of many existing trade agreements with potentially retaliatory consequences, even for longstanding U.S. trade partners.

“Trying to understand whether this will affect countries that we have … free trade agreements with is one of the many mind-boggling things to contemplate,” Jason Furman, who chaired the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) under former President Obama, said during an online symposium last week.

“[Trump] has not talked at all about exempting them, but we have an actual agreement with Canada and Mexico. We have agreements with about a dozen or more other countries that are similar to that.”

Trump has talked about replacing the income tax with tariffs as a........

© The Hill