Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
China tends to make cheaper things than lots of Americans can buy. Americans tend to make more expensive things. The average Chinese person has less disposable income than the average American, so it doesn’t make sense for them to buy more from the U.S. than the U.S. from China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBBDbz7mC8k
“When it comes to implementing those tariffs, Miran repeatedly stresses the need to move deliberately and in ways that “are minimally disruptive to markets and the economy.”
“There is a path by which the Trump Administration can reconfigure the global trading and financial systems to America’s benefit,” Miran wrote at the end of his essay, “but it is narrow, and will require careful planning, precise execution, and attention to steps to minimize adverse consequences.”
That’s, uh, not what’s happened this week.”
https://reason.com/2025/04/04/trumps-tariff-blueprint-called-for-careful-planning-and-precise-execution/
“The “reciprocal” tariffs that President Donald Trump announced this week are based on a flagrant fallacy: the idea that there is something inherently suspicious about trade deficits. Unlike many of the positions that Trump has adopted as a politician, this one seems heartfelt and long predates his presidential campaigns. His comments on the subject during the last four decades reflect an unshakable belief that international trade is “fair” only when the dollar value of imports from any given country happens to match the dollar value of U.S. exports to that country.
Trump’s long history of economic illiteracy suggests he is determined to pursue this trade war, which features import taxes that are much steeper and far broader than the ones he imposed during his first term, no matter how much pain it inflicts on American consumers and businesses.”
https://reason.com/2025/04/04/trumps-longtime-obsession-with-trade-deficits-suggests-his-tariffs-wont-end-soon/
Trump’s tariff rates, and the policy in general, makes no sense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVZ1lcw2bVU
Companies don’t know where to make investments because they don’t know what tariffs will be in the future. The uncertainty of Trump’s tariff policy is horrible for the economy.
Stable protectionism is bad for the economy, but unstable protectionism is much worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhabG-dyQu0
The U.S. is dependent on Canada for electricity. This is a huge vulnerability in a trade war.
The U.S. won’t be able to compete with China on manufactured exports because tariffs will make all our goods too expensive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__qozWvbGn0
““I’ve been talking about it for 40 years, because I saw what was happening,” he said, referencing old interviews from when he was “young, very handsome.”
“I’d be talking about how we were being ripped off by these countries,” he continued. “I mean, nothing changes very much. The only thing to change was the countries, but nothing really changes.””
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/02/trump-levies-tariffs-00267650
“President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime will completely transform America’s economic relationship with the rest of the world, all in the name of revitalizing domestic manufacturing.
And yet, many businesses won’t be rushing to shift their supply chains to U.S. shores.
For all the detail in Trump’s Wednesday announcement, his endgame is still shrouded in confusion. That’s lethal for long-term investment, making confident planning all but impossible.”
…
“I’ve asked multiple corporate executives in recent weeks whether companies are likely to start investing in manufacturing in the United States in response to Trump’s policies, and the message has basically been: That’s an unanswerable question right now. Because making those decisions requires understanding the relative costs of doing it versus not doing it, and Trump is far too unpredictable to allow for that kind of calculation.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/03/trump-tariffs-manufacturing-confusion-00267945
“the White House is reportedly confronting a very different reality: one in which Trump’s trade war leaves many Americans worse off, with farmers likely to be hit the hardest.”
…
“Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters last week that the White House has asked her to “have some programs in place that would potentially mitigate any economic catastrophes that could happen to some of our farmers” as a result of a trade war.”
…
“The time to work that out might be running short. Trump has promised to ramp up his trade war with Mexico and Canada in early April, and the administration also plans to start slapping so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on imports from other countries on April 2. As the various trade wars escalate, farmers are likely to be on the front lines—because American agricultural exports are an easy target for retaliatory tariffs from other countries.”
…
“That’s exactly what happened during Trump’s first term, when his trade war with China caused American farmers to lose a sizable chunk of one of their largest export markets. When farmers complained about it, the Trump administration provided a $28 billion bailout via a New Deal–era program at the Department of Agriculture.
Some of that is already happening. In response to tariffs imposed by Trump in February, China slapped new tariffs on a wide range of American farm exports, including beef, chicken, corn, cotton, dairy, fruits, pork, soybeans, and various vegetables. Both Canada and Mexico have indicated that they plan to retaliate against American tariffs with new levies targeting American agricultural goods.”
…
“That’s the nasty thing about trade wars. Not only do they harm manufacturers and consumers seeking to buy raw materials and finished goods from abroad, but they also harm domestic producers (like farmers) who lose access to foreign markets and therefore earn less money. Tariffs hurt Americans who want to eat avocados from Mexico, and Americans growing soybeans to sell there. There are a lot more losers than winners—and that’s before taxpayers get put on the hook for bailouts.
There should be no taxpayer-funded bailouts for American farmers who get burned by Trump’s trade wars. If the White House is concerned about the consequences that higher tariffs will have on American agriculture, there is an easy solution: Don’t impose them.”
https://reason.com/2025/03/25/dont-bail-out-farmers-again/
Tariffs are usually harmful to most people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-eHOSq3oqI