. Strategic tariffs like steel, EVs are fine. I’ve said so many times.
Across the board tariffs are an inflationary tax proposed by someone who doesn’t understand how tariffs work.
Let me explain the underpinning of why across the board tariffs don’t work:
The first fact is that the majority of American consumers will not pay up for American made products. If they would, all of this would be moot. Companies would have an incentive to build here. Even if it cost more.
The second is companies, by default, are patriotic and want to build here. If they could build cheaper here, THEY ALREADY WOULD BE DOING SO. If they refused to, a competitor would step in and do so.
You can across the board tariff all you want, but that doesn’t change the cost to manufacture here or invent consumers to pay up.
In order for manufacturing to come back here at least one of 2 things has to happen.
Either the cost of manufacturing has to be reduced or the price buyers are willing to pay has to go up
Robotics allows the cost to manufacture to go down. Which in turn allows the price to buyers to go down
That’s what Harris understands that trump doesn’t.
If we incent companies to introduce new tech, you can get results like the Chip Act and TSMC and actually bring manufacturing here