Tariffs do not stimulate an economy, but they do take the reigns off of people who choose to be productive.
I think you are dead wrong about that. Closing factories has killed the local economy and crushed real estate values of many small towns all over the USA. The converse is also true, opening new modern factories stimulates the economy like gangbusters. Tariffs help make that happen just like the lack of a tariff makes offshoring possible. there is so much empirical data that says trade tariffs are a boon. Look a ROK and China. Two countries that hide behind tariffs and have built huge industrial infrastructures and roaring economies..