“No one wins a trade war. Ever.” Not true.
Another expression for trade war is “protectionism”.
America is a very big market, so lots of corporations want to sell goods here. But they don’t make the goods here because it is more expensive than outsourcing production. Because they pay less for production, the prices of the goods here are lower. So consumers benefit.
However, if outsourcing becomes too great, consumer prices might be low, but unemployment is high, because there are no production jobs here. So this is where protectionism comes into play.
It says to corporations: “Right now you outsource, and sell your product in the US for $10 a unit. But if we erect a trade barrier, it will drive the price of an imported unit up to $20 a unit. Yet if you pay more for production by making it here instead of importing it, you will be able to sell it for $15 a unit. Thus making it worth your while to pay higher production costs by employing our citizens.”
Well, the downside is that consumers now have to pay $15 a unit. But the upside is that there are now more employed people who can buy units. And employed people also take less government benefits and pay taxes, which also reduces the load on everyone else.
The bottom line is that the US has gone way overboard with free trade, and while it has immensely profited other nations, and our consumers, it has gone too far and needs to be cut back so that there is a more even balance of trade.
That's the nut of the idea, that most of us will be worse off paying higher taxes so that those who are underemployed (for whatever reason) will be better off. We've been hearing this idea a lot over the years and what happens is that while most of us do in fact become worse off as expected, the underemployed folks never do become better off as promised.
Historic tariff rates and unemployment numbers are there for all to see; import tax cuts mean more jobs.