Dear Editor,
The first thing to understand about tariffs, that no voters were ever told on the campaign trail, is that the producers in the sending country (China, for instance) do not pay for the tariff. The U.S.-based companies that receive the goods (the U.S.) must pay the tariff. Why is this?
First, a nation has no authority to arbitrarily impose a cost on another nation. So China – or any other country – does not pay the tariff on goods it exports to the U.S.
But we do, in the form of covering the cost of the tariff that our wholesalers and retailers pay, which is then passed on in business-as-usual fashion to you and me. So, tariffs will not save our purchasing power. That is a campaign lie.
The outdated and debunked concept of tariff supposedly “protects” our industries by forcing foreign prices higher than what we would pay here at home, encouraging us to shop for lower-priced “buy American-made.” However, more and more imported components are used in “American-made” products. Also, thanks to social media like Temu and TikTok (both out of China), Americans are now addicted to online ordering from foreign markets.
Two can play that game. China can and will retaliate in kind. It is called a trade war.
Tariffs have been proven to do more harm than good. Here are just a few of the mainstream online headlines warning about the sticker shock we are about to experience when Trump implements his tariffs..
Sourcingjournal.com: ‘This New Sheriff Loves Tariffs’: Industry Groups on the Problems and Potential That Come With Second Trump Presidency
Yahoo Finance: Trump’s tariff promises have import-heavy retailers facing ‘new reality’
Business Insider: What Trump’s win means for retail giants like Walmart, Target, and Costco
Barron’s Online: Trump Tariffs Are Coming. Who Gets Hurt.
Fortune.com: Everything we know about Trump’s policies on tariffs, trade, taxes
Cnn.com Politics: 3 charts that explain how Trump’s tariffs would work [“Trump doesn’t talk about the negative effect tariffs could have on U.S. businesses and consumers. … Study after study… has found that Americans have borne almost the entire cost of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products.”]
So how will we consumers offset the sweeping price increases caused by tariffs?
Trump is promising to abolish the FICA payroll tax. That should put money in our pockets, right? But guess what? FICA helps pay for Social Security and Medicare. A major loss of that tax revenue will force cuts in those benefits in just a few years, which you, I, and our loved ones will depend on.
The joke is on all of us in the 80% of wage earners.
Julia Purdy, Rutland
