And why are they, more than anyone else, unable to pass on their costs? That's the question I keep asking without getting an answer? The cotton farmer was at the mercy of market prices and so what the wheat farmer and the factory laborer. None of them could arbitrarily raise their prices to make up for a hike in tariff. All were equally hit.
Tariffs hurt exporters the most because they kill off trade.
How did a hike in iron tariffs kill of cotton exports? Did the textile manufacturers suddenly stop making cloth and switch to iron? Did the tariff on iron cause a glut of cotton on the market and ruin the price? Where is the connection? Did the high tariff's of the 1840's cause cotton exports to drop?
You truly are one dim bulb, non-seq. How do you think trade occurs? When something goes out, it has to be paid for by the other party and vice versa. There are two ways that payment can occur - by exchange of currency and credit or by exchange of other goods. If Europe imports something into the US, we pay for it in dollars or by exporting something of our own, which in turn get spent buying other exports from us.
The same works for Europe, meaning if we export something to them, we expect payment in return. That means imports to the US or credit. If you impose a tariff, it blocks imports into the US from Europe. This in turn halts trade itself, meaning the exporters lose out.