How does raising the prices our people pay "recover" costs for us?
I should have added that we use the income from the tariffs to reduce the amount of revenue that we take from income taxes. Doing so shifts some of the tax burden from income taxes to tariffs. Then, those who pay the higher prices on imported goods will be paying for the costs of subsidizing construction of factories in other countries. Everyone else will recover some of the original cost of those subsidies by paying lower income taxes.
In a true "market" situation, the consumers of imported goods should be paying higher prices to offset the costs that were incurred in building the infrastructure to put factories overseas. By shifting some of the tax burden from income taxes that everyone pays to tariffs that are eventually paid by those who are buying imported goods, then we come closer to having prices reflect what the true market forces should have given us. As it is, we aren't under true market forces because in many cases, the American taxpayer paid much of the up front money that was needed to build foreign factories.
Bill