They're taxing certain things and then carving out exemptions for other things. Personal favors and political ideology driving the economy instead of market forces.
That's how "free trade" agreements have worked for decades too. Look at the specific categories Canada puts protective tariffs on despite our trade agreements with them (in particular their agricultural goods which have quotas after which massive tariffs are applied). Governments worldwide have been subsidizing and otherwise favoring specific companies and industries for as long as civilization has existed. I don't like it when Trump does it too, but I don't understand the people acting like this is somehow a new and unprecedented thing.
>I don't like it when Trump does it too, but I don't understand the people acting like this is somehow a new and unprecedented thing.
Sans near-total embargoes on goods from a country, have we ever imposed sweeping tariffs of 145% on all goods coming from one of our most-imported trade partners?
No, no we have not. Certain tariffs were very targeted for specific reasons, you are correct. But those were not blanket-applied haphazardly at such high levels. Hence, "unprecedented".
Those are broader economic embargoes, not tariffs. A lot more is involved in that situation and it's much more nuanced than what's happening with tariffs today. Hence my comment, "sans near-total embargoes on a country". Tariffs are taxes on goods allowed to enter the country - embargoes are a total elimination of trade (meaning we can't receive and we can't ship to) with a country.
Many counties manage agriculture by having quotas for farm products and some price regulation. If you don't do that in good years the crop price plummets, farmers go broke and then in poor years there are shortages because of that.
Canada or the EU doing that and sorting their own food isn't the huge conspiracy against America that Trump seems to think it is.
