When former President Donald Trump was asked about his plan to lower the cost of groceries, he said that he would slap tariffs on foreign food imports.Scott Lincicome and Sophia Bagley of the libertarian Cato Institute, however, believe Trump's plan is "deranged" and they write in The Atlantic that ...
I don’t know how you can miss that, though.
Tariffs on imported goods means the price raises to cover the increased cost to import it.
Tariffs are a mechanism to encourage domestic production by making foreign competition more expensive.
It’s literally the opposite of reducing the cost to consumers.
Trump has to understand this. But he knows his rabid base do not. So he says it like it’s going to help consumers, rather than exclusively the domestic producers that are already overcharging.
You’re giving him way too much credit. Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. While Trump has certainly performed acts out of malice, he is also the epitome of stupidity. He’s suggested nuking hurricanes, injecting bleach, and has stared straight into the sun during a solar eclipse, etc, etc. He’s a terrible person of course, but he’s also a complete moron.
Sure. He’s an idiot, no argument. But I think he understands leverage, and what tariffs means to domestic leverage over their consumers because of lack of competition. But ultimately, his understanding doesn’t matter, the voters understanding does. And I doubt many who are considering voting for him understand that tariffs are worst for them personally.
Honestly no, I don’t think Trump understands. The way he talks about his precious tariffs, I’m pretty sure he’s under the impression that imposing a tariff on Chinese goods means making China pay for it. It’s really just the latest iteration of “build a wall and make Mexico pay for it.”