so trump slapped canada and mexico with 25% import tax. that does not mean these imports will be 25% more expensive. no, they will be simply priced out of the market altogether. so both countries desperately need to rearrange their exports and focus on other countries altogether. america will become isolated with high local manufacturing costs and quality of life will plummet like a fucking rock. now add EU and China and USA will be done for before Trump is even out of the office.
The point of tariffs is to play a much longer game than term-limit politics, which is precisely why no modern politician runs on it.
It's political suicide for career politicians because it benefits this and future generations only in the mid to long term. You exchange pain now so that your children inherit a stronger economy.
The usual way of creating short-term tax bribes and freebies only piles new disasters onto previous disasters. Frankly it might be too late.
@UncleIroh @Justicar Tariffs as a means to on-shore jobs will produce a more engaged workforce as more jobs are created since imports become more expensive. If this is what you mean by a stronger economy, I agree.
If on-shoring leads to a higher instance of invention into some technologies that increase productivity, that can be a coincidental benefit, but not a causal benefit. How much of our standards of living we're willing to pay is a value judgement.
> If on-shoring leads to a higher instance of invention ..
How could it not be a causal benefit?
India and China from their perspective have been on-shore beneficiaries of Western off-shoring for decades, and look at the explosion of growth and innovation they have raked in as a result.
Off-shoring utterly fails to look at value "as a whole" in favor of price. Over time native value AND price tanks while off-shore prices soar because their value increases.
I think I see your point.
"Necessity is the mother of invention" is a true adage borne from countless historical examples that describe intrinsic motivation. No investment, just harsh reality.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is another that describes extrinsic motivation, i.e. direct strategic investment intended to avoid potentially bigger costs later on.
Tariffs are in the latter category, but it's probably better to combine both fear and optimism.
@UncleIroh @Justicar It's a semantic difference mostly: It would be an associated benefit, not a causal one because the cause of the invention is the inventor's actions which were enabled by being given the opportunity to invent, but invention and creativity as such cannot be stimulated only encouraged.
The larger point is not one on which we disagree in the broad sense.