Understanding the Tariffs

This is the best explanation of the reasoning behind the tariffs I've seen yet

Thank you. This is useful.

The Tarriffs will undo what the congress did under Nixon in the 70’s. Making it more profitable to manufacture outside the country. This put citizens on welfare and caused the 2-3 income family situation we see since the late 70’s. Trump saw it then (see eighties interviews). The pubbies were greedy, the dems were greedy and needed to destroy the middle classes to create the progressive environment we see now in our crippled American society.

You can’t have a “French/Bolshvik revolution as long as there is a free and productive middle class and a society that allows/encourages upward movement.

POTUS IS BRINGING OUR SOCIETY BACK! WWG1WGA!

Making it more profitable to manufacture outside the country.

How so? Are you saying the tariffs make it more profitable, or the 1970's policies?

all true. unfortunately i’m not impressed with Bessant’s ability to articulate the strategy nor with the potency of his manner. He’s no Rubio.

“A tariff is a duty (tax) imposed by the government of a country or customs territory, or by a supranational union, on imports (or, exceptionally, exports) of goods. Besides being a source of revenue, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and policy that burden foreign products to encourage or safeguard domestic industry. ‘Protective tariffs’ are among the most widely used instruments of protectionism, along with import quotas and export quotas and other non-tariff barriers to trade.

The problem most people see is in their immediate pocketbooks. But what they aren’t seeing, or being shown, is the results of aggressive tariff use to cover the trade deficit. And we only have a couple of months to use to illustrate it.

The US trade deficit narrowed to $122.7 billion in February 2025 from a record high of $130.7 billion in January and compared to forecasts of a $123.5 billion shortfall. The goods deficit fell by $8.8 billion to $147 billion and the services surplus narrowed by $0.8 billion to $24.3 billion. Exports rose 2.9% to $278.5 billion, mostly due to nonmonetary gold, passenger cars, computer accessories, trucks, buses, and civilian aircraft. On the other hand, sales fell for fuel oil, transport, and government goods and services. Meanwhile, imports were little changed close to record levels at $401.1 billion, after surging last month driven by anticipation of upcoming tariffs. Imports fell for finished metal shapes, nonmonetary gold, and civilian aircraft, offsetting higher purchases for cell phones and other household goods, pharmaceutical preparations, and computers.

So now that we are past the scare period, and our real business is on its own, tariffs have made a substantial change in our costs and amount of trade. They are like a depression. It takes time, but it will come back and stronger than the way it was heading. And by now sharing the cost using tariffs to even up the deal, it will help pay for itself as it becomes a “wash” with cost/sales. And that means inflation will be brought down to a workable level of greed until the people change it again. And this whole thing is because of greed and wanting control of the US from countries like China. And politicians over the last 100 years were making it available to them.

wy69

“A tariff is a duty (tax) imposed by the government of a country or customs territory, or by a supranational union, on imports (or, exceptionally, exports) of goods. Besides being a source of revenue, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and policy that burden foreign products to encourage or safeguard domestic industry. ‘Protective tariffs’ are among the most widely used instruments of protectionism, along with import quotas and export quotas and other non-tariff barriers to trade.

The problem most people see is in their immediate pocketbooks. But what they aren’t seeing, or being shown, is the results of aggressive tariff use to cover the trade deficit. And we only have a couple of months to use to illustrate it.

The US trade deficit narrowed to $122.7 billion in February 2025 from a record high of $130.7 billion in January and compared to forecasts of a $123.5 billion shortfall. The goods deficit fell by $8.8 billion to $147 billion and the services surplus narrowed by $0.8 billion to $24.3 billion. Exports rose 2.9% to $278.5 billion, mostly due to nonmonetary gold, passenger cars, computer accessories, trucks, buses, and civilian aircraft. On the other hand, sales fell for fuel oil, transport, and government goods and services. Meanwhile, imports were little changed close to record levels at $401.1 billion, after surging last month driven by anticipation of upcoming tariffs. Imports fell for finished metal shapes, nonmonetary gold, and civilian aircraft, offsetting higher purchases for cell phones and other household goods, pharmaceutical preparations, and computers.

So now that we are past the scare period, and our real business is on its own, tariffs have made a substantial change in our costs and amount of trade. They are like a depression. It takes time, but it will come back and stronger than the way it was heading. And by now sharing the cost using tariffs to even up the deal, it will help pay for itself as it becomes a “wash” with cost/sales. And that means inflation will be brought down to a workable level of greed until the people change it again. And this whole thing is because of greed and wanting control of the US from countries like China. And politicians over the last 100 years were making it available to them.

wy69

Let's boil it down to one sentence: "Tariffs affect the return-on-investment equation with regard to where the labor is done, or where materials are sourced."

People on FR have concentrated on the labor part. What they gloss over is the materials part. Where do we get the lithium for our car batteries? Where do we get petroleum products that generate energy? Tariffs affect the logistics in purchasing. Of raw material, seed material, and finished products.

1970’s policies and updates. Trump is going to breakup the game just like pickup baseball when I was a kid. She the game got lopsided we would stop and switch players to even things out and start over. The purpose was to have a good game not slaughter the other team.

However when it comes to $$, greed often overrides proper actions. When max leverage coupled with max dividends became the overall basis for corporate decisions as we became “Global” (understand as uber greedy) through “Pull” then the word “Statesman” and good citizenship sent out of vogue.

Hopefully POTUS policies will drive a new awakening for American Entrepreneurs to do both that which is profitable and good for the country.

WWG1WGA!