Agreed. See Bush’s 2002/3 Steel tariff..............
Our history with the tariff began with a tariff designed to collect revenue for the government since that was the only way to tax. Our economy had been distorted by colonialism and justified leaning in the other direction of protection for certain industries. Hence it was a revenue tariff and a protectionist tariff.
The other type tariff is a retaliatory tariff which is designed to retaliate against a nation which raises its tariff or is involved in practices which reduce Free Trade.
Markets make better use of the factors of production than governments and the change from more profitable to less profitable means less wealth is created. It is inescapable logic
There is no economic justification for a political tariff which is what this is. Trump just fired a shot across the bow demonstrating that he is serious about foreign trade with the view that trade should move more towards Free Trade.
But there is no real question about the fact that a tariff reduces economic growth, like all taxes. Trump understands that but is willing to accept economic losses in the short run for a larger payoff in the long run