Please can someone sensible explain to me why the American tariffs are a good idea?

How does this make the already wealthiest economy in the world “great again”? Every export has instantly become more expensive, so less will be sold, and every import has instantly become more expensive for Americans to buy.
No country can exist on its own surely? Do we not all rely on each other to some extent?

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Oneofthestormboys · 56-60, M

It’s certainly an interesting and emotive debate.
I’m a simple soul, and it strikes me that the reason countries import goods is largely because of quality and cost. Germany/Japan make great cars, at an affordable price. I’d imagine labour rates and efficiency are a big factor here. Fender make nice guitars, but USA built ones are far more expensive and not significantly better than Korean built Fenders, so people of course buy the cheaper ones.
So, if the factories making American products aren’t selling nearly as many due to taxes on top of labour rate costs, what’s going to happen?
Additionally, with the reciprocal tariffs imposed on foreign goods, that’ll make the things that American people have enjoyed for generations far more expensive won’t it?
Assuming that the figures on trade are correct, (and who really knows), then how has an already wealthy country prospered so much? If the USA were to be a poor country I could understand this idea of “making things fair”, but we’re talking about the wealthiest economy in the world here aren’t we? Or is that wrong? I don’t know.

Perhaps my logic is flawed, and I don’t profess to being an expert economist, but I really can’t see how anyone is going to be better off here…

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Oneofthestormboys · 56-60, M

@BrandNewMan Well, I really don’t know about the ATM perspective. Nor do I know about the accuracy of trade deficits etc. I’m merely asking if anyone is genuinely better off over this, because it seems to me that it’ll lead to redundancies and more expensive things in the U.S. more than anything. It wasn’t meant to be a nationalistic question because it’ll be the people paying the price in the end, won’t it?

Northwest · M

@Oneofthestormboys

it strikes me that the reason countries import goods is largely because of quality and cost

And to meet demand.

Back in the early 80s, when the US auto industry was tanking, instead of making better cars, that don't break down, for a price that doesn't break the bank, thew US auto industry, decided to lobby the government to tariff imported cars.

That policy did not save the US auto industry. It instead made Detroit dig in and continue to slip in terms of reliability and innovation.

It took decades and a near economic collapse of the US economy, for the United Auto Workers union to quit bullying and blackmailing, and start to get reasonable, allowing the US car industry to start innovating (and we're not there yet).

I would love to buy an American car with the same feature set and price as a South Korean car. In reality, the South Korean car, is going to be less expensive and has far more features than the US car. Keep in mind that South Korean auto workers, make 25% or so, more than their US counterparts.

Tariffs as an economic policy, is not necessarily a good way to go about growing the economy long term.

Let's say you have a kid, making $20 per hour, because they did not learn a useful skill, so you pay them to now the lawn. But to "protect" them, you create a policy, where a kid from another neighborhood has to pay $5 per hour, to enter your yard and mow your lawn for $10 per hour.

Wouldn't be better to force your kid to learn a skill that can pay them $40 per hour? Wouldn't you be more comfortable going to your grave knowing this is a better solution long term?