re: Mark Levin on Tariffs

Tariffs are an attempt to tax your way to prosperity. If Trump imposes a tariff on a company overseas, that company isn't going to eat the cost, they're going to pass that tariff back onto the consumers. So before, you could buy a $30 t-shirt made in America or a $15 t-shirt made in China, and now you have to spend $30.

So we've already effectively raised your cost of living. That's indisputable. The question is how many jobs that saves. Fox News Research sent out a tweet over the weekend citing the Center for Automotive Research saying 25% tariffs on foreign autos would cost 715,000 jobs, not create jobs. That's in part because there are auto factories in the South that rely on importing cheaper parts from Mexico, which frees up money to save jobs. They may also find that increased automation is less expensive then hiring new employees, and it's been found by Ball State that 85% of manufacturing jobs were lost to automation. You'll also have companies that need to buy cars which could have less money to hire employees, and dealerships who fire salesmen who suddenly can't sell as many cars. And so on.

The reality is you may save a few jobs at the margins, but you're not creating any and potentially killing them through a ripple effect. Now Trump's strategy is allegedly using tariffs as a short-term tool to force the EU and China to the negotiating table over trade. If that's his plan, then maybe it's worth the short-term pain to get better trade deals, but I'm skeptical that's his end-game given he was praising tariffs on the campaign trail. Imposing tariffs over the long-term is left-wing economics, pure and simple, and it doesn't work.