Read up on ‘comparative advantage’ online. Tariffs make everyone poorer.
I’ve studied this stuff. Yes, of course tariffs makes everyone poorer, except, of course, the government. But that’s how a tax works. TAXES make everyone poorer, but at some point some kind of minimal tax is actually needed to keep the legitimate part of the feds running. The point is that tariffs are probably the least intrusive tax, income tax being the most obnoxious and intrusive method.
Tariffs are a legitimate form of taxation but an invalid economic tool because it is a self-inflicting detriment to the country putting up the tariff. The only affect it may have on the importing country is lowering demand because the consumer of the importing country, who everyone seems to forget, now has to pay more for the product. But the importing company can simply find other places to ship and at some point, competition between countries will force at least some to lower their tariffs to give them economic advantages over the higher-tariff countries.