[bopat]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

Isn’t part of the idea of tariffs on China to convince Americans to just stop buying Chinese products because they are no longer good deals? (And likewise for other countries.) If that leads to us not buying that product from anywhere at any price, at least the money hasn’t gone overseas. So, iPhone buyers don’t buy a new iPhone because they don’t want to pay an extra thousand for it. They keep their perfectly good old phone. Similarly, Lexus drivers in The Villages may buy a new Lincoln—though the price will go up because so much of it is made elsewhere—or maybe they will buy nothing. Same for Toyotas, Hyundais, Subarus, etc. the real idea is less making money off your purchase as a tax, though if you BUY something with tariffs, that’s essentially what it is. The idea is to get patriotic Americans to stop buying products from overseas, period, whether they buy an American product instead or not. Then the trade imbalance stops. After all, people in other countries don’t really want to buy more things that we make because they can’t afford them, even without tariffs.

Think about it. If you stop buying products with levied tariffs because you aren’t willing to pay an extra 20% or 50% or 100%, you will need to stop shopping at WalMart, the Dollar Store, Home Depot, etc. These stores may be forced into bankruptcy if tariffs continue for a year. But that is how the trade imbalance is solved. The alternative is for the foreign countries to stop subsidizing their own companies and let the cost of the items rise to what they actually cost to produce and sell. Oh, but doesn’t that raise your costs when you go shopping? Yes. For a lot of things you like to buy, there are no completely American equivalents. You will either have to do without or pay higher costs for the overseas product you love, and your purchase at least, at that higher price, will put more money in our U.S. Treasury. It’s a bit like a Luxury Tax, but a Luxury Tax on WalMart Shoppers who used to buy products there because they were less expensive.

I remember back in the 1990s when Walmart had a lot of USA made products.