> There's a lot I don't like about Trump, but I think his tariffs really will make America great again (if they aren't just repealed by the next administration). Because we're finally doing something about this situation.
The tariffs are at best misguided and most likely highly counterproductive. In the steel sector, the main problem boils down to China massively overbuilding steel production in the past decade and dumping (subsidized) steel on the world market. Building a coalition of nations to confront China on this matter wouldn't be very difficult... but Trump manages to make it about attacking Europe, Canada, and Mexico instead. And the fact of the matter is that there are far more jobs in manufacturing sectors that are at risk because of sudden increases in raw materials brought about by tariffs than there are job prospects to be brought back. On top of that, the resulting trade war is going to cause more pain in the labor market in unrelated segments.
The tariffs are at best misguided and most likely highly counterproductive. In the steel sector, the main problem boils down to China massively overbuilding steel production in the past decade and dumping (subsidized) steel on the world market. Building a coalition of nations to confront China on this matter wouldn't be very difficult... but Trump manages to make it about attacking Europe, Canada, and Mexico instead. And the fact of the matter is that there are far more jobs in manufacturing sectors that are at risk because of sudden increases in raw materials brought about by tariffs than there are job prospects to be brought back. On top of that, the resulting trade war is going to cause more pain in the labor market in unrelated segments.