So let me see if I have this straight:
As the result of our new tariff policy, somebody (who?) is going to reap billions in revenue from foreign countries and use the money to build massive factories that will begin operating in six to 18 months to manufacture all the products we current import from abroad.
This will create job opportunities for an army of robots that will operate the machinery inside these massive plants, plus additional jobs for a handful of humans who will be required to service the robots and repair them when they break down, sort of like George Jetson did when he added oil and lube to Rosie the robot maid.
Once these massive plants are operating, we will never again have to import anything from another country because we will make everything here in America, and this will somehow be good for the global economy.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, first off, tariffs do not produce revenue from foreign countries but instead raise taxes on citizen consumers, make products more expensive and raise costs for small businesses, many of which will go bankrupt because they can’t sell their products for enough money to cover their additional costs.
Next, it’s doubtful we could build massive manufacturing plants in six to 18 months. More likely, it would take several years, during which our economy would fall deep into recession waiting for the economic renaissance to begin.
The companies that (theoretically) could afford to build new factories probably wouldn’t do it, because any time extra money falls into their hands – through tax breaks or shrinkflation – it is used to do stock buy-backs or increase the salaries of their CEOs and other top executives. The cost of new, modern factories would be so massive, it would probably be cheaper to continue importing goods from overseas.
Next, these fantasy factories would turn out products – say cars, for example, or cell phones or electronics – that require parts made in (wait for it) foreign countries. Before American manufacturing could become self-sufficient, we would need to build factories to make the parts which would then go into the products we expect to make with robots in other factories here at home.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
If this sounds like a big joke, it’s not. Sadly, it’s what Trump and his lineup of economic “experts” are saying out loud in interviews, congressional committee hearings and on TV. This is their plan, believe it or not, and they want all of us to get on board and wait patiently – buying $10 eggs and watching Walmart prices double – until the stock market rallies and tariff deals are made and everything works out well for everyone.
Of course they do.
Meanwhile, President Trump has taken up the notion that the United States should harken back to the 1890s when William McKinley was president, claiming that McKinley “made our country very rich through tariffs.” Trump talks about this period in history as a kind of golden era for the United States, but he fails to mention a few facts about McKinley.
For one, in 1890 as a member of Congress, McKinley pushed through a bill that placed an average tariff of nearly 50 percent on imports into America. The tariff was not well received by Americans, who suffered a steep increase in prices as a result. (Sound familiar?)
Nor does he mention that in elections that same year for the House of Representatives, Republicans suffered big losses, losing their majority to the Democrats, or that two years later, the incumbent Republican president was dumped by voters in favor of a Democrat.
He also must have forgotten to explain that McKinley's unpopular law was repealed in 1894.
Or that McKinley was assassinated in 1901.
I’m sure it just slipped his mind.
