You've got this pretty much backwards...The couch price didn't change...The manufacturer took the wages he paid to Americans and put it in his own pocket...He didn't drop the price of the couch...He didn't move to Mexico to be nice to Americans...
And now the lady with considerably reduced wages can't afford the couch...She can't afford a massage either...But she NEEDS the couch...So she buys cheaper groceries...Doesn't drive as much and gives up on going to the movies...
And now, she won't be buying a new car (which puts more Americans out of work)...
Or possibly stayed in business and saved jobs. Not everyone is relocated in such a move.
This is the picture the tariff people paint --lower the tariff and people loose their jobs. The tariff people even have actual case histories to make it sound even more realistic. What they don't have is the actual headcounts of the job-losers compared to actual head counts of the job-gainers, along with the stacks of payrolls showing higher wages for all. It's a picture that simply doesn't match with reality.
In the short term, the manufacturer will either pocket the difference and spend it on a new Lexus or diamond necklace for his wife (employing more people); or he'll lower his price to undercut his competitors, increase his market share and make more profits anyway. In the end, the money doesn't disappear into a bourgeoise black hole. The manufacturer is human, therefore his wants are unlimited, therefore he will employ people in the process of meeting his wants.
By the way, if he doesn't drop the price of his couches, he's not very competitive; one of his competitors will wise up, make his own business more efficient in some way, and undercut his prices to increase his own market share and profits. If no one does this, or if they collude between themselves to keep prices higher than what they might be, than I, or someone just like me, will enter the market and take their market share by virtue of a better and more efficient business. That's what keeps the free market honest and efficient. In fact, the only thing that makes the system break down is when the interested parties collude with the government to protect them via things like tariffs on their products or new regulations to keep newcomers away (see the steel industry and the oil refineries).
He didn't move to Mexico to be nice to Americans...
No, but it's funny how the system works to make it seem like everybody loves us, isn't it?
"He didn't move to Mexico to be nice to Americans..."
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."