Post #379340

A refresher on how tariffs actually work. When a country charges a tariff, it applies to the goods crossing the border into the country. Tariffs are collected from the people receiving the goods. Most imports are by corporations, so they pay the tariff and then pass the cost onto their customers either as surcharges or by raising prices. Why do foreign countries not like tariffs? Because when the cost of their goods goes up, they sell fewer of them, but tariffs don't "cost" them anything but lost sales. Tariffs work when they are applied stragically against dumping, which is the selling of goods below cost in order to corner a market and drive out competition. Tariffs do not work when they are applied across the board. That just causes inflation, job losses and bankruptcies. Anyone cheering on Trump's tariffs either does not understand how they work, or is actively engaged in the deliberate destruction of the US economy for personal gain.