Tariffs are a bad policy based on a misunderstanding of economics. Even if you have a protectionist mindset, Trump’s tariffs make no sense because they don’t focus on goods that we could produce and provide our consumers; they focus on inputs to things we want to produce like steel, aluminum, and autoparts. Many more people use steel and aluminum than produce it. This makes tariffs bad before we even consider retaliatory tariffs from other countries.
The uncertainty of what tariffs will look like prevents businesses from investing and consumers from making large decisions, causing further damage.