To the Editor:

Re “G7 Fostered Cooperation. And Then Came Trump” (news article, Aug. 25):

If any more evidence were needed of the degree to which the Trump administration is disconnected from reality, Larry Kudlow, the financial cheerleader-in-chief, provided it when he opined: “ The Group of 7 is in danger of completely losing its way. If Mr. Trump isn’t allowed to make the case for growth at the Group of 7, no other leader will.”

Mr. Trump, who has probably never heard of Smoot or Hawley, is single-handedly responsible for jeopardizing the world economy with his punitive tariffs. He doesn’t understand even the basics of how tariffs work and apparently doesn’t care about the damage he is inflicting on farmers, retailers, American manufacturers and consumers.

Who, Mr. Kudlow, is the one losing his way?

Bill Gottdenker

Mountainside, N.J.

To the Editor:

Efforts to curb trade with China will not slow down, cut or stop Chinese production of exports to the United States. As a former customs import specialist, I monitored and verified shipments of articles into the United States.

The Chinese, when faced with quotas and prohibitive tariffs, would simply pay other countries to allow the Chinese-made articles to be shipped through these other countries, labeled products of those countries. The restrictions did not reduce production or exports from China to the United States then and they will not do so now.