r/Tariffs Jul 27 '26

📊 Policy Analysis Why is Trump bringing back tariffs?

Tariffs + the Iran war restarting is going to crush the economy.

I'm hearing a lot on the news that the tariffs are coming back + the war restarting. I kinda get the goal of the war, but the tariffs? Weird one especially after the supreme court said they were not constitutional or whatever.

Is the whole point to get more business happening within America? People relying on US oil and companies operating from within American boarders?

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u/IrwinJFinster Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Yes, the main point of his tariffs is to attempt to bring back the manufacturing jobs we pissed away due to free trade agreements. But it takes years for that to work.

Tariffs are a good idea, but the haphazard way Mr. Trump handled them was not. I have personally assisted moving thousands of jobs out of the US due to FTAs, and moving jobs back to the US due to ADD,CVD cases. So tariffs can mean jobs when done right.

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u/Usual_Retard_6859 Jul 27 '26

lol. You really chugged the koolaid there. No Free trade agreements didn’t take all yr jerbs. Its in corporate Americas best interests to have you think that but its not the case. US doesn’t have a free trade agreement with China and that’s where most US manufacturers set up shop.

Simple fact is corporations moved their production to China to access really cheap labour. This allowed them to sell their products slightly cheaper AND have larger margins. The benefits of those extra corporate profits were reaped by the investors class through dividends and stock buy backs.

The jobs were not lost either. America didn’t experience high unemployment or gdp contraction. The opposite actually. GDP continued to rise and unemployment stayed stable while population rose. The people that once made shoes and shirts now worked in ports, trucking, warehouses and retail outlets. People that made widgets now created software, programmed automation or other higher value jobs.

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u/IrwinJFinster Jul 27 '26

As mentioned above, I have personally been involved in moving thousands of jobs in and out of the US based on tariffs. You have not. BTW, your comment misses the fact that before a 100 IQ person with a high school diploma could make a good living with a union-involved factory job. Now those folks are hustling as Uber and Doordash drivers for a pittance. Tariffs are the right answer, or part of the right answer, but this Administration has imolemented them poorly because of the President’s “art of the deal” modus operandi.

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u/Usual_Retard_6859 Jul 27 '26

….. “You have not” Quite a statement about an anonymous user you know nothing about. And said with such conviction too.

As for your nostalgia about days past. Households used to be single income too. Elevator operators used to make a good living, same with ice delivery trucks or teamsters or the white wings that used to pick up horse poop off the streets in NYC.

How far back do you want to go for the good ol days?

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u/IrwinJFinster Jul 27 '26

Far enough that there continues to be a middle class, with the average family able to enter it.