TRUMP TARIFFS: Tell Me What You Like About 'Em

... and be sure to "Bring the receipts"

Apr 01, 2025

Is there really anybody — aside from Trump (and perhaps Tucker Carlson) — who still thinks tariffs are good for our country, our economy and our manufacturers?

Friends, unlike the tech bros and billionaires, I have nothing to gain from sharing the tough truth about Trump’s tariffs.

I’ve got a Youtube series called “The Tough Truth About Tariffs” and my substack articles explaining the harms of tariffs here, here and here.

I might be alone in my fascination with different economic strategies and political systems… after all, I’ve got a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in international policy studies, so staying up to date on international economics and trade is somewhat of a hobby for me.

Many people have told me that they are confused by international trade and economics and can’t make sense of it — but they trust Trump to do the right thing.

I understand — really I do — that people want to believe that Trump is playing 5-D chess (still don’t know what that means exactly) and that he is just bloviating without any intention of slapping these tariffs on imports to the USA.

But folks, folks: just look back at 2018, when Trump imposed 30-50% tariffs on solar panels and washing machines; 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum. Separate, escalated tariffs were set on imports coming from China, leading to a full-blown trade war… a trade war in which there were no victors, only victims, namely you and me.

Retaliatory tariffs were inflicted upon US exports, namely by India, China and Canada.

Do you know that means? That means that American manufacturers and farmers were hit, as their exports slowed because their products now were more expensive in the global market.

Some are estimating Trump’s 2025 tariffs could jack up car prices by about $10,000.

How do ya like them apples?

HISTORY SHOWS TARIFFS ARE DISASTROUS

Remember: tariffs are NOT paid by the exporter, the foreign country, the foreign manufacturer or foreign company.

Tariffs are paid by the importer. That means the individual, manufacturer or producer receiving the product. And guess what? When those products (like solar panels and washing machines) are slapped with a 30-50% tariff, do you think the washing machine company is just going to eat that cost? Hardly. That cost is passed down to the consumer.

That’s why the saying goes, tariffs are taxes on your grocery bill… and everything else you buy.

Now you might say: no problem! I’m not going to buy a washing machine made in Korea.

(And keep in mind, you already can buy nearly anything you want in the US — US made and owned! There is no major industry where the US in NOT robust in manufacturing, except perhaps apparel and textiles. Hardly a national security emergency! I covered that in my previous substack articles here, here and here.)

Well, that’s all well and good — but when the component parts or materials are targeted, such as 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, that means that finished products that are made with those materials will also be taxed.

And it gets even worse.

There is a deleterious ripple effect, like falling dominoes, that happens with trade wars. As prices go up, consumers buy less. That means manufacturing goes down. And that means people lose jobs. And that means businesses go out of business.

This is not just economic theory.

Let’s look at the facts, shall we?

Just one year into Trump’s tariffs, and analysis by MarketWatch and The Tax Foundation concluded that Trump’s 2018 tariffs amounted to one of the largest tax increases in recent history.

Remember, only Congress can levy taxes, so Trump’s tariffs were a run-around to put more money in the Department of the Treasury.

Yup, tariffs are paid at the border by the importer directly to the Department of the Treasury.

So when Trump says, “Tariffs are paid by the foreign country,” he is exactly wrong. Ignorant? Lying? Who knows. But wrong.

(By the way, the fella collecting these tariffs is none other than Soros hedge-fund manager Scott Bessent, Trump’s current Secretary of the Treasury. Yup! Multi-multi millionaire Bessent, who got a couple of cool billions from Soros himself to run Bessent’s own hedge fund, is the one who gave your private tax records to King Mush. Isn’t that comforting to know your private information, including your bank account and business expenses are in the hands of your favorite Martian? I’m sure Musk would never use that information for power or control, oh no, not at all! 🤣)

Do you want an even deeper dive? I did a 55-minute video called: Tariffs: Clearing up the Confusion with Facts, so I’m not going to rehash everything in this post.

But let me share some hard data with you that I promised:

Take a look at this. One year following Trump’s 2018 tariffs and the COST FOR ALL ITEMS ROSE THE HIGHEST SINCE 2011, by nearly DOUBLE THE AVERAGE RATE:

Trump’s 2018 tariffs reduced real income and adversely affected the GDP. Some studies also concluded that tariffs say that the tariffs adversely affected Republicans in the elections.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau and Nearly 100,000 manufacturing jobs were LOST in the years following Trump’s tariffs.

HARD DATA about TRUMP’S DISASTROUS 2018 TARIFFS

FACT: The dramatic rise in U.S. import tariffs between 2018 and 2019 lowered exports and employment in the U.S. manufacturing sector.

The following comes from The Tax Foundation:

Many economists have evaluated the consequences of the trade war tariffs on the American economy, with results suggesting the tariffs have raised prices and lowered economic output and employment since the start of the trade war in 2018.

A February 2018 analysis by economists Kadee Russ and Lydia Cox found that steel‐consuming jobs outnumber steel‐producing jobs 80 to 1, indicating greater job losses from steel tariffs than job gains.
A March 2018 Chicago Booth survey of 43 economic experts revealed that 0 percent thought a US tariff on steel and aluminum would improve Americans’ welfare.
An August 2018 analysis from economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York warned the Trump administration’s intent to use tariffs to narrow the trade deficit would reduce imports and US exports, resulting in little to no change in the trade deficit.
A March 2019 National Bureau of Economic Research study conducted by Pablo D. Fajgelbaum and others found that the trade war tariffs did not lower the before-duties import prices of Chinese goods, resulting in US importers taking on the entire burden of import duties in the form of higher after-duty prices.
An April 2019 University of Chicago study conducted by Aaron Flaaen, Ali Hortacsu, and Felix Tintelnot found that after the Trump administration imposed tariffs on washing machines, washer prices increased by $86 per unit and dryer prices increased by $92 per unit, due to package deals, ultimately resulting in an aggregate increase in consumer costs of over $1.5 billion.
An April 2019 research publication from the International Monetary Fund used a range of general equilibrium models to estimate the effects of a 25 percent increase in tariffs on all trade between China and the US, and each model estimated that the higher tariffs would bring both countries significant economic losses.
In December 2019, Federal Reserve economists Aaron Flaaen and Justin Pierce found a net decrease in manufacturing employment due to the tariffs, suggesting that the benefit of increased production in protected industries was outweighed by the consequences of rising input costs and retaliatory tariffs.
A February 2020 paper from economists Kyle Handley, Fariha Kamal, and Ryan Monarch estimated the 2018–2019 import tariffs were equivalent to a 2 percent tariff on all US exports.
A December 2021 review of the data and methods used to estimate the trade war effects through 2021, by Pablo Fajgelbaum and Amit Khandelwal, concluded that “US consumers of imported goods have borne the brunt of the tariffs through higher prices, and that the trade war has lowered aggregate real income in both the US and China, although not by large magnitudes relative to GDP.”
A January 2022 study from the US Department of Agriculture estimated the direct export losses from the retaliatory tariffs totaled $27 billion from 2018 through the end of 2019.
A May 2023 United States International Trade Commission report from Peter Herman and others found evidence for near complete pass-through of the steel, aluminum, and Chinese tariffs to US prices. It also found an estimated $2.8 billion production increase in industries protected by the steel and aluminum tariffs was met with a $3.4 billion production decrease in downstream industries affected by higher input prices.
A January 2024 International Monetary Fund paper found that unexpected tariff shocks tend to reduce imports more than exports, leading to slight decreases in the trade deficit at the expense of persistent gross domestic product losses—for example, the study estimates reversing the 2018–2019 tariffs would increase US output by 4 percent over three years.
A January 2024 study by David Autor and others concludes that the 2018–2019 tariffs failed to provide economic help to the heartland: import tariffs had “neither a sizable nor significant effect on US employment in regions with newly‐protected sectors” and foreign retaliation “by contrast had clear negative employment impacts, particularly in agriculture.”

A year into the tariffs, with the obvious disastrous results of his tariffs, Trump changed his tune, negotiating more favorable trade with Canada and Mexico.

Going back in history, to the 1920s and early 1930s, Republicans passed record high tariffs, which economists agree worsened the effects of the Great Depression.

What’s so Great About Tariffs?

So you tell me: what’s so great about tariffs?

Increasing the price of consumer goods?
Decimating the import industry (to the tune of about 21 million jobs)?
Driving up inflation?
Losing manufacturing jobs as exports DROP to other countries?
Passing the cost of the tariffs as a TAX on the consumer?

What works better than tariffs:

👉Negotiating beneficial policies with our trade partners so it’s a win-win

👉Focusing on what the US does best: exports of agriculture, energy, steel (yes the US EXPORTS steel) and services such as travel, financial, consulting, etc.

👉Preparing for true national security concerns, such as bolstering certain industries and stockpiling materials. Why not let the other countries use up their own resources by selling them to us so we can keep our for true emergencies? (I’ve written and spoken about that at length in previous videos and substacks)

👉Passing tax reform such as 100% bonus depreciation and a 15% corporate tax rate for domestic manufacturers which would IMMEDIATELY provide a boost to US manufacturing, particularly production of business equipment, without harming the economy and the consumer

Want to learn more? Read the following: