The U.S. has tried to limit tariffs on foreign goods, hoping that real free trade would ensue, but no dice. People often misconstrue why some countries can't sell certain kinds of goods in the U.S. as protectionist, when in fact most often the limits or bans are punishment for bad behavior in trade, diplomacy, conspiracy, espionage, support of terrorism, to name a few reasons. Likewise, many countries are on restriction for receipt of certain U.S. goods for national security reasons. Like people often say about personal relationships, it's complicated.

As I've said in this forum several times, the tariffs have been enacted because other countries involved in trade negotiations have shown little incentive to participate in fair trade. Trump suggested we would be open to dropping all tariffs if the others would do the same. The EU, the Canadians, the Mexicans, and China all assumed Trump was bluffing, so he decided to show them he was not. China was willing to drop some big tariffs, but refused to drop the requirement that U.S. technology firms had to share their intellectual property when doing business with China.

A trade war is not the catastrophe that has been painted by the MSM. There are lots of markets for U.S. goods around the world, but that means U.S. producers have to get off their butts and establish new contracts. In fact, the U.S. is probably unique in the world as being one country that could be self sufficient if necessary, with respect to many goods and technologies.

Europe, Canada, Mexico, and China will all be hurt much worse than the U.S. in an extended trade war. The most laughable comment has to be the one by the EU minister who said they would continue doing business with Iran, no matter what the U.S. wants. Their business with Iran totals about $300B, while their business with the U.S. is over $2T. Giving such a huge trading partner the finger is like playing Russian roulette with all six chambers loaded.

Two points:
1- That tariffs are bad, eg pull gets exemptions.
We had a go at this in a recent post-
Free Trade, 9 days ago, by coaldigger
https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

2- That Trump supporters are silent when Trump brings in tariffs.
True unfortunately for some.
In the above, many Trump supporters (my guess at who they support) gave some
excuses/rationalizations-
that he did not think it thru, he cannot think, he is impulsive,
he thinks it is an opening gambit to a good negotiated outcome.

There is the strong argument that, for those who want smaller government, there
is no need to think it thru, that the action is a use of powers government should
not have.

There are so many conservatives on this site for whom the argument-
it is bad in itself - is insufficient, so a few more government employees is
ok if the intentions are good.
For those, note, it does not end there. Many are hurt by tariffs who cannot get
an exemption, so sooner or later there are subsidies and buying preferences to
compensate. All this needs rules to be written and supervised, there is job
growth in regulatory agencies, tribunals and the courts.
New jobs- yes, economic growth- no.

I dont think these tariffs will work on china. I say this because the chinese are in a desperate struggle to take over as the reigning power in the world, and thats why they do what they do. Cutting tariffs on our stuff coming into china, stopping chinese subsidies, and ceasing stealing technology are too important for their lame communist government to just give up.

Trump is right and should push for zero tariffs on all goods both ways. The chinese and Canadians, etc. have large tariffs already compared with the USA, and should reduce them.

Of course, we dont hear this in the media.

Q. What's your solution?
A. If outsiders create problems for me, I will not act against my values or my interests. If they want to harm themselves I will not intervene. I will not punish those who created the problem with an action whereby I will be worse off. Now, there may be some gaming going on, so should I trust my government with the power to join in? I think, not.

Q. "But this has been proven not to work" ?
A. This statement implies it is up to me to stop everyone else being stupid.
When I have got myself and then my government to be rational, I may give some thought to other nations. Some of them are in the massing troops and aiming weapons mode which is a sufficient focus of attention. That is what government should deal with, not with others refusing to buy my stuff.

'Politicians dictators and looters like protectionism' Yes.
Opportunities to act decisively, to make speeches, threats, pound tables, punch the air, have always been irresistible to the political class. Then there are the international conferences, negotiations, summits, and then- ta da .. photo opps with a signed agreement. Rational restraint removes all of that, and you are better off, but WTH, it is other people's money, let us work towards getting pics of big shots shaking hands and waving agreements. (sarc)

It is possible to image tariffs, subsidies and so on designed with a professional level of impartiality. There will still be distortions in markets, and growth in government employ. When the time comes to remove, institutional inertia makes it very difficult to act.

Trump is being forced to deal with the mess he faced from decades of prior politicians that would not do...in dealing with the imposition of tariffs by other countries...what a mess....

What's your solution?

I don't believe in tariffs; they are just an extra tax for the people in the nation that imposes them. But I do believe we should simply have an embargo on totalitarian states (e.g., mainland China and Vietnam, for instance).

Hey, we're the good guys, you can trust us.But, just don't bet the farm on it.Trump learned a very long time ago not to trust anyone pledging anything when making a deal. Everyone is out for number one. Always have a plan going in, and a plan B if all else fails.Which congressman, for example, puts the interests of the people of the nation ahead of their own? I can only think of three, possibly four.Giving breaks to American owned companies because they promise to be good, is akin to believing promises of a teen age boy or girl. How do you know they lie? As Judge Judy says, "When their lips are moving."

I am an educated person. Some simple and basic things though, seem to scream in my face. How can an American Company, with, say, a wage of $20 an hour, compete with a Foreign company that has a wage of, say, $4 an hour with Room and Board? Our cost of living compared to 2nd or 3rd world countries is not equal, so how can we equally trade with those countries? China needs food just to feed their people, they cannot create enough independently at this time. So, if they place a tariff on our food goods entering their country, its their people that will pay the price as its a needed good, not a luxury per se... If they can produce steel for $10 a ton and we can only get down to $75 a ton (hypothetical numbers) then we are at a disadvantage world wide. You can argue that our steel may be better, but only a small percentage of construction companies will use that better steel as the price does not outweigh the benefits of the cheaper steel as they will both do the 'general' job. If i need an I beam in my house for support, and my options are a $200 beam or a $1500 beam and they will both sufficiently support the structure, I would go with the $200 beam... A world trade center type building is not started every day, so the premium quality steel is not regularly needed and profit comes in to play 99% of the time.

I digress, so how can we play on an even trading partnership when our countries are not even to start with.....

This post is partly conflating the idea of tariffs with the administering them with no corruption. It's conceivable gov't could enact tariffs but administer them squeaky-cleanly with no special favors to those with political connections.

I say party, because I think it's very difficult for gov't to keep willing buyers and sellers apart without corruption in some form appearing. It happens with the sex trade, drug trade, and foreign goods/labor. It's hard to keep people from trading things they want to trade.