Trump says that tariffs 'may' cause pain to Americans.

Is that justifiable, as long as they cause pain to people you don't like? It stikes me that masochism is a big part of MAGA.

I get that people see free international trade as a problem that has damaged America. I actually agree on that and I think it's damaged everywhere. It's allowed company CEOs to outsource jobs, undercut unions. It's led to de-industrialisation and a race to the bottom

Are tariffs the answer? Not like this. If you want to bring jobs back and re-industrialise a country, you would need an industrial strategy. As 'rival' companies are blocked off, you need domestic production in place to meet the demand with an alternative supply. You would want to build up US industries (through tax breaks/subsidies or whatever) so it's ready to go.

Imposing heavy tariffs and just leaving it to the market is a recipe for chaos. It's an extremely crude, inefficient and brutal way of solving a problem. Prices will rise, people will face layoffs and it will take a few years for the market to re-adjust. At best; At worst, all this pain will be for no advantage.

The chaos will be doubled because the coming trade war will hit anyone exporting to Mexico and Canada. In addition, what of the manufacturing supply chains that cross borders? To state the obvious, this really did need a plan!

Trump's tariffs are a crude solution to a complicated problem. They will bigly cost Americans and their neighbours. It's bad that your computer has stopped working, so then hit it with a stick.