Why We Should Be Very Angry About the Tariffs — and Why Trump Is Right Again.. Kevin McCullough

[mystery-ak]

Why We Should Be Very Angry About the Tariffs — and Why Trump Is Right Again
Kevin McCullough


On April 2nd, President Donald J. Trump did something no other modern president has had the spine to do. He declared “Liberation Day” and slapped sweeping tariffs on the very nations that have been gutting the American economy for decades. A 10 percent universal tariff across all imports. Targeted, punitive tariffs up to 34 percent on bad actors like China. And guess what? We should be furious—not at Trump—but at the spineless presidents before him who let things get this bad in the first place.

Let’s be clear: these tariffs didn’t start a trade war. They responded to one.

For decades, our so-called allies and trading partners have been gleefully waging economic warfare on the United States, with the full permission — no, the encouragement — of prior administrations. China flooded our markets with cheap steel, violating trade norms and collapsing American mills. The European Union protected its own industries while slapping barriers on ours. Japan, Taiwan, and others enjoyed one-sided access to our consumers while shielding their own markets with layers of red tape and tariffs.

And what did our leaders do in response? They looked the other way. Smiled. Shook hands. Signed one-sided trade deals. Sold us out. They told us it was for the “global good,” for “peace,” for “prosperity.” But the only people prospering were in Beijing, Brussels, and Tokyo. In small-town Ohio, Detroit, and western Pennsylvania, all we got were pink slips and boarded-up factories.

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https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2025/04/03/why-we-should-be-very-angry-about-the-tariffs-and-why-trump-is-right-again-n2654937

[Fishrrman]

Saw this posted elsewhere today:
(can be opened in a new window and enlarged if necessary)

[The_Reader_David]

Tariffs, even of 10%, on goods we cannot produce (or can only produce in very small quantities insufficient to meet demand) like bananas or coffee, or some minerals, are nothing other than a tax increase on the American public, and are bad policy. 

Here I mean cannot in the strong sense, not cannot because we offshored the production of such goods and therefore cannot do it now, but cannot ever because we don't have enough farm land with suitable climate or cannot for the foreseeable future because we do not have enough known reserves of a mineral.

[Wingnut]

Tariffs, even of 10%, on goods we cannot produce (or can only produce in very small quantities insufficient to meet demand) like bananas or coffee, or some minerals, are nothing other than a tax increase on the American public, and are bad policy. 

Here I mean cannot in the strong sense, not cannot because we offshored the production of such goods and therefore cannot do it now, but cannot ever because we don't have enough farm land with suitable climate or cannot for the foreseeable future because we do not have enough known reserves of a mineral.

English please.  Yes we have no bananas today?

[Timber Rattler]