I’m in Paris right now and decided to tune into some news channels in Paris. The coverage of the tariffs Trump announced yesterday is hilarious. The world is in panic and talking about economic collapse. What this should tell you, as an American, is the rest of the world not only is dependent on the U.S. military for security but is also heavily dependent on the U.S. consumer for their economies.
I’m not for tariffs, in general. I think in the long run they don’t help economies, don’t create jobs, don’t foster competition and innovation. There’s a reason the U.S. economy is outperforming the rest of the world and it was because the rest of the world put heavy tariffs on our goods. This should prove tariffs are not good for the country that imposes them. On the surface they have the look of protecting your home industries from cheap foreign competition, and maybe they do to a small extent. Deep down tariffs allow domestic industry to keep their prices high and causes inefficiencies because of lack of competition. Prices will surely rise for everyone. My analogy with reciprocal tariffs is it’s like the world is slapping you in the face so to get back at them you kick yourself in the balls.
Instead of imposing tariffs on other countries why not remove the barriers that cause our own industry to compete with them. The cost of doing business in the United States is too high. Too many regulations and minimum wages are too high (minimum wages should be eliminated altogether). Remove the shackles that prevent our industry from thriving and let the rest of the world tax their citizens to prevent our competition.