Because U.S. consumers will pay the taxes and U.S. workers will lose jobs when the rest of the work retaliates.
I believe they would only have to be temporary to achieve the desired result.
What exactly is the desired result?
For us the short term spike in prices would have no real long term effects on us and it would be a rare exception indeed that a Chinese product would not be available from an alternate source.
If the goal is a level playing field in our international trade then why are you targeting only China?
So look at using tariffs and import blockades not as an end in themselves or something permanent, but rather as a means of negotiating a better and more prosperous trade posture with China.
What would that better end look like?
We need to lower the 500,000,000,000 dollar a year trade deficit with China. Do you agree? It’s a problem. I was picking on China because they are the worst offender. I think tax and regulatory reform is also needed for companies back home. Eliminating the EPA sounds good. Bottom line, we need to have access to China’s markets, and other countries, like they have to ours. I don’t think that is happening right now.