Denial Without Disaster—Keeping a U.S.-China Conflict over Taiwan Under the Nuclear Threshold

President Trump’s latest tariff plan is under fire from a conservative think tank, which says the math behind it is both flawed and misleading.

• Donald Trump focused on separating himself from his party's extreme policies and addressing key voter concerns like the economy and abortion.

• Brendan Duke at Center for American Progress argues that Project 2025 proposes a tax plan that raises taxes on low- and middle-income families while giving significant tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations.
• The analysis asserts that the introduction of a flat consumption tax and elimination of income taxes would result in higher costs for middle- and low-income households, shifting the tax burden away from wealthy individuals and large corporations.

• Bryan Burack at Heritage Foundation writes that the Trump administration's significant foreign policy legacy was its strategic response to China's economic warfare against the U.S., emphasizing the importance of maintaining these measures for deterrence.
• The article asserts that the Biden administration has adopted a less assertive approach, reviving engagement policies with China due to concerns that aggressive economic protections might provoke conflict, which has led to counterproductive security tradeoffs.

• Adam N. Michel at Cato Institute argues that tax policy's prominence in the presidential campaign is due to the impending expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the candidates' proposals for new special-interest tax breaks that complicate and increase the tax code's complexity.
• The report asserts that while there is bipartisan support for extending most of the expiring tax cuts, proposed targeted benefits for tips, families, homeowners, domestic production, and seniors will further complicate the tax system and pose significant fiscal challenges.

• Urban Institute experts write that the Biden administration's rent stabilization proposal aims to cap annual rent increases at 5% for units owned by large landlords, conditioned on maintaining existing tax breaks, aiming to stabilize housing and protect tenants from eviction or displacement.
• The experts argue that while the proposal could make more units affordable for low-income residents, it may also reduce the overall supply of rental units as landlords might convert properties or avoid entering the market, potentially driving up rents for uncontrolled units.