[Jim W N]

Tariff retaliation from the importing country in turn hurts mainly the country imposing the tariff.

Tariffs are a bit like shooting yourself in the foot but making it look like you’re shooting the other guy and then the other guy deciding he should shoot himself in the foot also - to “level the playing field”. Everybody’s equally doing dumb things. A lot of hokum.

Little snippet below - Milton Friedman on the subtle negative effects of government interference with the economy, in this case tariffs. Milton Friedman was a bright light in an otherwise dim room of economic understanding of the free market.

“Milton Friedman on Trade Balance and Tariffs”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv5SiQpG6sg

[Sequoyah101]

Tariffs are nothing but artificial economics that try to sustain a system that is ineffective or dying. They are also similarly a mechanism that tries to sustain an isolated economy in a modern world of global competition.

In your example that leads to leveling the playing field is sort of like the old Spy vs. Spy. Endless escalation.

I sustain my position though that anti dumping actions, temporary in nature, are realistic and necessary at times. Anti dumping actions are like anti trust to combat unfair / unequal trade conditions. Otherwise, tariffs are false economy or just what Trump has used them for, a weapon that, if used long enough, hurts those firing the gun.