Chambers is right: Trump tariffs are a once-in-a-century event

Public expenditure minister warns that the disruption is 'possibly the biggest impact on trade in over 100 years' — and it is no hyperbole

Public expenditure minister Jack Chambers apparently in upbeat mood after the Government's trade forums with employers and unions on Friday. But his dire warning about the global upheaval caused by US tariffs rings true. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins 

"Possibly the biggest impact on trade in over 100 years."

It’s easy to let those words from public expenditure minister Jack Chambers wash over you. Politicians and the media are prone to hyperbole after all, aren’t we?