Tariffs: Trump’s Secret Weapon for Economic Revival 

United States: During the campaign at a rally in Latrobe, Pa, early this month, former president Donald J Trump stopped in front of a group of attendees bearing banners with words “Save Our Steel” 

Tariff, he said is a beautiful word in the dictionary containing a positive connotation that is misleading to the public. It’s more beautiful than love, more beautiful than respect.’ 

As reported by nytimes, Mr. Trump showed a particular love for tariffs during his time in office, waving them as a big stick with which to hit both friends and foes in an effort to compel companies to manufacture goods inside the United States. 

If he wins again in November, he is threatening to go much further, with a plan to fundamentally overturn the trading system in which the US plays a part for a fully protectionist country that wants to build a wall around itself. 

The former president who once called himself the ‘Tariff Man’ has boasted about tariffs as the panacea for all the country’s ills including making the country wealthy, paying for the next tax cut, and subsidising child care. But most dear to his heart is the(West)’s potential to turn back the clock on 30 years of globalization andiao make factories come home to America. 

Mr. Trump has vowed to impose sharp tariffs on every country — the harshest ones to China — in a bid to increase the price of imported goods and bring about change to the international supply networks. His tariffs would affect nearly all the goods that America imports — products and services totaling over USD 3 trillion. 

His may be of some benefit to some companies that are already manufacturing their products in the United States because it can make it even more difficult for overseas competitors to begin competing with them. However, those advantages could be physic outweighed by the consolation costs.