All I can say is that the conventional mind set dies hard. The old use for tariffs was singularly “protective.” No discussions between the parties, just slap a tariff on an imported product and the impacted country retaliates by doing likewise - that’s the end of it. Nothing more and nothing less. Well, the days of globalists wanting to deplete America are over. There’s a problem now for all the world welfare leaches, President Trump is rewriting the play book on tariffs. Tariffs are no longer just protective, they are leverage in a worldwide trade, hard nosed, deal making campaign to effect ‘fair’ and ‘free’ trade - a whole new refreshing approach by a great and powerfully effective deal maker. As usual, the stuck in the mud, atrophied Republicans, Never Trumpers, liberals, and worldwide naysayers will all be eating crow when this is over.
A trade policy without tariffs is like a gun without bullets.
That is how my opinion on free trade has changed. Once very religious about it, I now understand some things trump economics.