Those tariffs did exactly what they were supposed to do. Push smaller competitors out of the market and allow price increases from the bigger companies. Even with those tariffs the price from China was still much cheaper, all he did was ramp up inflation. Literally no one won.
Same thing for the meat processing/packing laws in Denver, meant specifically to drive out a small bit very high quality farm in favor of a massive industrial one. It doesn’t lower prices or increase quality (raises prices and lowers quality overall), it’s just meant to drive out the competition.
I wonder how much this whole cost of living crisis is due to the Trump tariffs vs how much was due to COVID? COVID seems to have provided a convenient cover that distracted the world and probably exacerbated the issue, but I wonder had COVID not happened would it have been more apparent how bad the Trump tariffs were for the economy? To my knowledge though, I don’t know that those tariffs ever really went away.
The thing about economic policies is that it takes longer than 4 years for the effects to really be felt. Every time you hear some campaign ad about how bad the economy is, it is almost guaranteed to be fall out from the previous administration. That isn’t even taking into account that presidents tend to have very little actual sway over budgets and spending. Every year, the president submits a budget, and every year congress shuts it down. This cycle has happened for 200 years.
