we learned on tuesday night that the tariffs are not anything that any economist has imagined, but rather a corollary of an old debate in american history. trump is really holding pretty hard to this idea of trying to bring back the gilded age, which featured a longstanding opposition to the idea of income taxes. income taxes are a relatively new idea in the united states.
what did the united states use to generate revenue before it had taxes? the answer is tariffs.
the tariffs are a shift in taxes from income taxes to import taxes. step two is a massive tax cut for the ultra rich and he doesn't even attempt to generalize it. he said in his address that the tax cuts were intended for him and his family.
it follows that donald trump is literally increasing taxes on the people that voted for him in order to cut taxes for himself.
the tariffs are not a negotiating tactic, they're a permanent tax, but it's not to raise revenue.
the trump tariffs are little more than a tax cut for donald trump.