The Tariffs Aren't What You Think They Are
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (98765)
United States
April 4, 2025 7:44am CST
The panic over tariffs and trade wars is really unfounded when you think about it, and I don't really think people are actually taking the time to really think things through here.
Trump's plan has multiple working parts to it. The first part is reducing expenses by $1 trillion, that he is accomplishing through DOGE, cutting waste, fraud and abuse and trimming unnecessary staffing within our government.
On top of that he is aiming to increase revenue by $1 trillion to $2 trillion, some of that being accomplished through tariffs, or at the very least, the threat of tariffs.
Sure, other countries can fire back and retaliate with their own tariffs, but it's a fool's game and Trump is quite aware of this. They (the other countries) lack the necessary leverage to fight back because the United States is the largest buyer of ALL products IN THE WORLD. They want our money and they need our money. The United States is also the world's largest importer.
What's more, there is a strong incentive for foreign businesses to work toward NOT having to pay tariffs at all if they want our business. How do they do it? If they build their factories right here, inside our country, they pay no tariffs. On top of that, Trump wants to lower the corporate tax from 21% to 15% which would make the United States the cheapest nation in the world to do business in.
What do you get when you have more factories in the U.S.? More taxes collected, more jobs for Americans, and better opportunities for higher wages as well.
Doesn't it make sense that if other nations want our business, they ought not be the only beneficiary? HIRE us. Let us benefit too.
The bottom line is that American workers have been hung out to dry by globalization and Trump wants to fix that. We have spent decades fighting over a higher minimum wage, but that doesn't solve the problem. We don't need to force a higher minimum wage if the jobs we have that are available aren't dominated by retail and fast food jobs.
Let's reinvigorate industry and family supporting jobs like factories. Let's encourage foreign investment into our country rather than sending all of our money outside the country, especially when it supports our enemy's economies like in the Middle East and China.
If we want to tackle the enormous debt we have, improve the standard of living for Americans, and offer better opportunities for our own economic growth, we have to encourage more business and opportunity within our own borders so that we can reap a direct benefit from it.
Does it have some short term pain attached to it? Yes. But most good things DO require some pain to see the gains later on. If you rebuild a highway, it sucks in the short term that you have to go out of your way to find an alternative route. But once the project is complete, you can drive freely, unimpeded, and in a much more efficient way. But you have to suffer it out first to enjoy the results that come later.
I'm not guaranteeing the plan will work. No one can. It's uncharted territory. But for 70 years the United States has been in decline with slow economic growth and median income for the average American barely moving. We HAVE to try something different because whatever we were doing before clearly was not working.
Are their risks? Sure. But they are worth it if what we achieve in the end is a better America, a more prosperous America, and one in which dad goes to work and ACTUALLY makes a respectable living that also supports a strong and healthy retirement, perhaps like the one your grandfather enjoyed.
Take a walk through your house and try to find what's made in the USA. You'll be hard pressed to find anything. Meanwhile the largest employers in the country are Walmart, McDonald's and Starbucks. Do any of those jobs pay family supporting wages? Hardly. So, why not restart making things in America and offering jobs that actually pay the bills and offer a chance to retire comfortably?
8 people like this
5 responses
@lovebuglena (45835)
• Staten Island, New York
4 Apr
I’ve heard others say because of these tariffs now prices for things will go up? Is that true.
3 people like this
@LeaPea2417 (37718)
• Toccoa, Georgia
4 Apr
@lovebuglena some things will go up in price, like cars.
2 people like this
@porwest (98765)
• United States
4 Apr
It's a maybe. The fact is no one knows. It largely depends on the true economic impact of the tariffs. Trump imposed tariffs in his first term. Did prices go up? No. They did not. It is also important to make it clear that these tariffs being imposed are reciprocal, meaning, we're charging countries tariffs who charge US tariffs.
It's ALSO important to note, that for those on the left, who have clamored for years to raise corporate taxes, that would have the SAME potential impact to inflation, are now calling out the tariffs as "inflationary."
Both are taxes. Both are potentially passed along to consumers.
The big difference here is that the tariffs could actually BOLSTER the overall economy IF they accomplish what they aim to, and that is to incentivize foreign investment HERE. If a country wants to avoid the tariff, they can build a factory here, and then they don't have to pay the tariff. American workers get jobs. The government collects more taxes. More money stays INSIDE the country than leaves it.
Trump's plan is also multifold. It uses a combination of tactics. For example, if he can lower the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% like he wants to, that's yet ANOTHER incentive for foreign business to come to the United States to do business, because we'd be one of the most attractive countries in the world to do business in.
I don't WANT inflation any more than anyone else does. We've had enough of it thanks to Biden. At the same time, the inflation we saw under Biden came with no foreseeable benefits. The opposite is true IF Trump's plan works, which we'll just have to wait and see about. Lots of people are SAYING this will happen and that will happen. But no one really knows.
Even when you look at the stock market it's entirely a reaction to guesses about things that HAVE NOT HAPPENED. Once the dust clears and we can see the reality of things, we can get a clearer picture of the real impact, if any, and see what actually happens, and things will feel more normal and GO back to more normal.
Change is hard. Change is scary. There's lots of what-if scenarios going on right now. People are in a panic. I think if we are patient, let things play out, and remain calm and rational, but more importantly, try to UNDERSTAND what Trump's trying to do here and step back and try to see the bigger picture...
We'll be just fine, and maybe even better. I won't say mark my words because I also don't know. But when I am analyzing this from a practical standpoint, it tends to lean toward making sense to me that it WILL work.
2 people like this
@porwest (98765)
• United States
4 Apr
@LeaPea2417 I am certain we will see SOME price increases as well. But I also think it will eventually balance out depending on who comes here to make their stuff here, as well as how companies adapt to the changes.
Ford, GM, and I guess you could lump Stellantis in there as well even though they really aren't an American company, will find ways, as all businesses ALWAYS do, to mitigate costs and bolster their bottom lines. If they decide it makes more sense, for example, to source more parts internally and make investment into accomplishing that goal, they'll do it.
I mean, how does anyone think business LEFT America to build factories in places like Japan, Mexico and China, or even to source manufacturing from those places by independent contractual manufacturing firms?
They were saving money on taxes. They were saving money on labor costs. They were saving money on certain raw materials.
If the business is going to make more money operating WITHIN the United States, and avoiding tariffs is part of what helps them to make that decision, it could change the landscape of our current jobs market which would also improve median incomes, tax revenues, and other things.
But we have to let this all play out to see if any of that happens. Right now people are just in a frenzy over things they THINK will happen that might not actually happen.
2 people like this
@andriaperry (118643)
• Anniston, Alabama
4 Apr
I agree, build in America, the money stays in America. Why buy from another country when we can make it right here?
I've never understood why we have to pay more to get something and others pay less to get what they want.
I call this fair trade. Pay the same tariffs! No matter the percentage, then everyone benefits.
3 people like this
@porwest (98765)
• United States
4 Apr
When we got into this whole idea of "global trade," I don't think many Americans really considered what that meant. We see the results of that today, as I pointed out, with retail and fast-food jobs dominating the jobs market, where even large corporations stopped paying pensions, and where at the flip of a hat a company here could just say, "Screw it, we're paying y'all too much," rip out the bolts and send the machines to Mexico.
We gave up more than we ever gained, and then we set up things like "duty free trade" and "Most Favored Nation" status which basically let them do business with us for free, all the while the countries taking in any of our goods were taking in less and less of them and then charging us tariffs on what they DID take.
On the other hand, one might ask WHY do the other countries NOT buy more American made goods? Because WE aren't making anything anymore. The factories are all in THEIR countries!
I think when people are thinking about the tariffs, they are thinking in terms of the immediate cost added to goods we buy WITHOUT considering the enormous GREATER cost of losing jobs to foreign companies or foreign workers even when American companies set up shop elsewhere seeking lower labor costs.
The American people have gotten screwed. The American WORKER has gotten screwed. And we've reached a point where wages in more jobs than not are SO low now, because so few good ones are left, that all the benefits of cheaper stuff has long been past, because now even the cheap stuff is too expensive to buy because no one's making any damn money.
2 people like this
@terri0824 (5092)
• United States
4 Apr
I 100% agree with what you have said...what many don't realize is that the US pays tariffs to other countries. They just think this administration is wanting other countries to pay them. So far we have seen great results as companies are moving their companies back to America.
2 people like this
@porwest (98765)
• United States
4 Apr
This is it exactly. The operative word here is reciprocal. These tariffs are IN RESPONSE to tariffs ALREADY charged on our goods entering THEIR countries. If they can tariff us, we can tariff them. It's that simple and there's nothing mean or unfair about that.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (76593)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
7 Apr
I think what people see is prices going up, not down. That we, the end user, the consumer, winds up footing the bill for what our govornment does. However, they don't think like a business, but Trump, who's made most of his money from businesss p pratices, and yes this includes his failures, has an idea of what works and what's worth a try.
Ever since terrifes were introduced, counteries are scrambeling like chickens with their heads cut off trying to figure out what to do. Because the simple things, such as closing their borders and having actual security, bring their business model to the u.s. and so on.... don't make sense to them, because it's so simple.
@moffittjc (123474)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr
Americans are too short-sighted to see the end game. I will admit, it makes me uneasy seeing the stock market tank. But I'm not panicking, I'm in for the long haul.
