To be clear, the current tariff execution is reckless and poorly planned. But I hear a lot of total tariff opposition from the same people who demand we continue to escalate with China over control of Taiwan, up to a potential hot war.
So what’s the plan? Western economies were brought to their knees during just a momentary interruption in shipping during the pandemic. How do you wage a war with a country that does all of your manufacturing? China could defeat most western countries without firing a single shot, just by cutting off their access to Chinese exports.
If you don’t support tariffs to bring back manufacturing jobs domestically, how do you think we could make it through a war with our manufacturing partners? I can’t reconcile the two ideas, and I don’t understand how some of y’all are.
And that’s the problem Trump is seemingly trying to fix. I agree he’s not going about the right way. His approach is a kind of clumsy shock therapy, that will cause chaos in at least the short term and may or may not produce the desired result, eventually, but reshoring production and rebuilding a strong manufacturing base for the US is a goal shared by the Democrats, as well.
I think saying it is short term is very hopeful. The ripples of this will be felt for many years. You can’t suddenly magic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains into existence. It’s a long road to do that with seemingly no plan in the interim, and I’ve no doubt that tariffs will be changed many times at his whim, so it’s hard for anyone to set up any manufacturing business when they can’t get a solid grip on their costs, given the need to import raw materials and components.
Making items on home soil for your own market is a good idea but it takes a lot of time, and the general feeling in the rest of the world is that countries will want to import fewer US goods, so export markets for the US will dwindle, and I doubt there is enough buying power in the US to get the growth he wants, particularly when these products made on US soil will undoubtedly cost more to the consumer than they currently do, and with stagnating wages and high cost of living as part of the equation.
I’m sure he’ll start selling to his Russian buddies when the time comes, but doubt that will be enough to fix his mess.
I agree, rebuilding a US manufacturing base will require competent planning and management, but those are bad words here in the US, when it comes to the economy. To many Americans, competent, central economic management, direction, and planning is tyrannical rule by elites. To those Americans, Trump is the antidote. You might point out that there is significant irony in that. I agree, it is ironic, but that irony is completely lost on many millions of Americans.
I agree that a centrally planned economy controlled by the elites would be tyranny. It needs to be controlled by local worker councils.
But that’s communism, and a dealbreaker for many people, regardless of whether it’s better.