I know this will probably dampen the old Trump ego a bit, and I’m sorry to do it, Donald, but hey man, your tariffs aren’t unique. I know, I know, all over the news media, social media, and around coffee shop tables, I’m sure it’s as if you invented the idea and birthed it like a child, but again, I must disappoint. You are not the first person to impose a tariff, and I’m sure you won’t be the last. Oh, what? Do I need to prove it to you? Well, if I must.
I think it is important here to realize what a tariff actually is and what it’s used for. Let’s see—Tariff—a tax imposed by one country on the goods and services imported from another country to influence it. I can see where this might be useful because if you just sit back and let things slide and do nothing, you won’t influence much at all. It’s possible you may even be thought of as weak. God forbid.
Raise Revenues. Revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services, so I can see where that might be helpful as well. I mean, who wouldn’t want the income on their goods and services raised?
Protect Competitive Advantages—I don’t have to spell this one out, do I? I mean, if I’m doing better at barbering frog hair than anyone else, or I’m the only one actually doing it, don’t I want to try and make sure no one else can take that from me and do it cheaper? Maybe even start a whole chain of Finer Than Frog Hair salons. Or maybe microchips or steel or solar panels or whatever, stuff right up there next to frog hair.
OK, so now we know what a tariff is and in some ways how it can be used. But you have to realize here, as much as everyone would like to blame tariffs on President Trump, you just can’t do it. Let’s see.
In December of 2024. Joe Biden (or whoever had their arm up the back of his shirt at the time) ordered up to a 50% tariff on solar energy components for the Chinese. In May of 2024, President Biden directed his Trade Representative to increase tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on $18 billion of imports from China to protect American workers and businesses. That little bit right there is directly from the Department of Commerce, so don’t be thinking it’s fake news, seeing as how it’s something that shows someone else actually knew what tariffs are and used them.
You can click the links and read the information for yourselves. When Biden does it, or any other president other than Trump, they say it’s to protect American workers, etc. When Trump does it, it’s because he’s a no-good SOB who’s going to ruin America and make us all go broke, and we won’t even have social security if we could draw it because he and the evil Elon Musk are planning on stealing everything. But I digress—
Tis true, though, that in his first term, Trump implemented tariffs on about $300 billion of Chinese-made products. President Joe Biden, however, kept those tariffs in place and, in September of 2024, after a USTR review, decided to increase some of the rates on about $15 billion of Chinese imports. Imagine that.
Here are three of Obama’s tariffs.
1. Obama put tariffs on solar panels.
2. Obama slapped tariffs on tires.
3. Obama put tariffs on imported steel.
I hope you’re accessing the information I’m giving you, complete with links, to make this as easy as possible to understand and follow. I know it’s tough when you have to look things up on your own, so you don’t, and just say any old thing you hear from any place or anybody, and you end up looking like an idiot when you post something and someone who has done research reads what you wrote. Does anyone ever think about that, or do you just not care?
In 1995 the Clinton Administration imposed tariffs on more than $1 billion of Chinese goods, the largest trade sanctions in American history up to that date. BTW, here’s a picture that shows the rates of inflation over the past decades since JFK. Might be interesting to note where Donald Trump is on that list.
I think he may know what he’s doing. Just because he didn’t invent tariffs is no reason not to give him the benefit of the doubt. Looks like he’s done a lot better than a lot of others at keeping inflation down, and that’s what everyone is really concerned with, isn’t it? If it’s not, it should be. That and not dying in a nuclear war. Open your eyes and see what the hell is going on for a change.
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