Well let’s start.
We have charged import tariffs throughout American history.
Right now we don’t, for the most part.
I say we need them badly. But a universal tariff on everything imported, is the only way I can think of to keep government from getting involved in picking winners and losers.
I say we charge everything imported, one tariff.
But we need to protect American jobs.
Now.
Here’s the problem that I foresee. Some of the things that we import are because they do not grow in the United States, e.g., coffee (except Hawaiian), tea, some tropical fruits, etc.
As I recall, Americans don’t like it when they have to pay higher taxes on tea...and as far as coffee, can Hawaii actually produce enough coffee for the demands of American coffee drinkers? Don’t get me wrong, I love Hawaiian coffee, but it’s already expensive.
I could, potentially, get behind the idea a tariff on things which can be produced in the Unite States, if not for the fact that there are too many cooks in the U.S. industry kitchen already.
With a tariff, things will rapidly become prohibitively expensive. Because of how expensive it is to make things in the U.S. (thanks to minimum wages and other regulations), the tariff would have to be substantial to discourage foreign purchases.
Prices would rocket. Then people would argue for higher minimum wage—and prices would rocket accordingly.
Tariffs create artificial shortages. IMO, they’d do more harm than good. Free markets work best. The reason we have no jobs in America is because of government interference in the free market and in industry.
Do you think that adding more regulations on our market will actually help the situation? I do not.