Tariffs are a legitimate tool of government financial policy, but not in the way Trump proposes them. If you have an industry that you need to protect for matters of national security (high-tech chips, certain agricultures, certain mining, defense, etc.) you have 3 tools: tariffs, subsidies, and import/export bans.
Let’s talk about tariffs: A tariff provides a tax on things made out of the country. It encourages things to be made local. However, while it may encourage the manufacture of things locally (increasing jobs) it also increases the cost of things to be just under the tariff rate. So if a TV costs $1000 before a tariff, and the same TV by an offshore manufacturer now costs $1000 + $200 in tariffs, it will now cost $1200. A local manufacturer not subjected to the tariffs, (assuming there is one, and there won’t be, and it will take 2-3 years to build one), will, if it is efficient, pay their workers very poorly and still try to price their prices as high as they can but under the tariff prices. You will pay $1180 for a TV when you used to pay $1000. And you are still competing with low-wage offshore workers while the people invoking the tariffs don’t care that you are making minimum wage. Your wages will remain the same, and their profits will soar.
Tariffs are a tool of the oligarchy.
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