You left out a very important part of the dialogue:
“...However, if Lexus or Mercedes buys or makes all their parts in the USA and assembles all their cars here, no tariff. Their cars could still sell for $50,000. This would be a powerful incentive to shift production here...”
That would negate your complaint.
“...However, if Lexus or Mercedes buys or makes all their parts in the USA and assembles all their cars here, no tariff. Their cars could still sell for $50,000. This would be a powerful incentive to shift production here...â€
“That would negate your complaint.”
That’s ‘pie in the sky’. You can make statements like “could sell for $50,000” all you want. The real question is what would they sell for.
People who want tariffs only want to increase their wages at the expense of their fellow Americans. While that sounds good, the victims are those who are forced to pay higher prices for the tariffs.