In other post there have been talks of tariffs and it seems that there is a lot of tension in the air about them and our neighbors to the north are quite upset. I don't really know enough about it but it prompts a question to me.

Why were tariffs ever started in the first place?

It seems rather pointless. I mean, the grocery stores started doing discount cards all because one store started it and now they all do it. It is ridiculous, especially at this point. Why not just offer the groceries to everyone at the same price that is reasonable, like it used to be? One greedy person started this idea, everyone followed suite, and now it is pointless. Are the tariffs not the same way?

What am I not understanding?

They were started to protect our industries. When we build something and charge a reasonable price everything is fine.

When another country uses government subsidies to make a similar product and imports it to our country, we impose a tariff (tax) on their goods to level the ground.

IMHO when a country imposes tariffs to try and change a trade imbalance, it doesn't work so well.

Tariffs and grocery store ads are not the same thing.

In my opinion they are somewhat like unions. They started out being needed and did a good job. But then they morphed into something that possibly hurts the consumer at times.

re: why were tariffs started in the first place?

Random fact: Before income tax became a thing (ie, in that Revolutionary War - WWI time period), tariffs accounted for anywhere from 50% to 90% of federal income. Since the 50's, though, they've usually been less than 2% of federal income.

The postwar General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was a strategy to minimize international barriers to trade in an effort to encourage post-war recovery. It was later succeeded by the World Trade Organization (WTO), which helps developing nations enter the trade stage. (Two-thirds of their membership are developing countries.) Then you also have other things, like the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (1989), NAFTA (1994-2020), and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (signed in 2018, took effect in 2020) which abolished a lot of the historic tariffs in North American trade.

So going back to using sweeping tariffs as a policy tool is a strategy that hasn't been relied upon extensively for quite a while. However, tariffs have been used to protect specific industries--- if we remember the automotive and steel tariffs from the 80's-90's-00's-nowadays. Just last year, there were new tariffs being implemented for aluminum, medical equipment, li-ion vehicle batteries, and solar panels from China. Etc.

But, if you look beyond the noise, it's a version of an ordinary bargaining technique. You come to the table and ask for something unrealistic right off the bat-- and then you have back-and-forth and find your common ground closer to where you actually came to the table wanting to end up. And so you're happy because you got what you actually wanted, and they're happy because they got you to come down from an unrealistic starting point.

There is nothing new about tariffs. Think of it as a sort of sales tax on goods that are imported into and sold in America.

Other counties have always charged tariffs on American goods, often really high tariffs intended to keep American goods out of their country to protect their own industries.

America has always charged no or low tariffs on foreign goods. Countries with low labor costs and no environmental laws can produce goods cheaper. They sell those in America cheaper than things can be manufactured here and they have put American industry out of business.

It’s always the consumer/buyer that pays for the tariffs.

Because if the ICE round ups of illegal Mexicans AND the Tariffs, the Mayor has a new silent rule:

All printed things presented to worker/employees, MUST BE IN SPANISH! The new rule does not address English! If I hand out a safety pamphlet to a worker, it must be in Spanish.

To Robert in Ontario - My apologies for all the trouble we have caused you this year. President Trump blames it all on drug trafficking. I don't know how much fentanyl travels across your borders but I do know this is the responsibility of our customs agents to stop this flow.

In the end, the end customers pays for these tariffs. So how much is it going to end up costing us end users? There is a lot of uncertainty on how much these tariffs will try and pull already thin profit margins and family budgets.

Do tariffs make sense against nations who largely base their currency on the US dollar is at best questionable.

I am pretty sure that our diesel trains have electric engines. The diesel is just used to get the electric motors up to speed.

We still have healthcare for workers and everybody else. It just costs us out of pocket when we need it, instead of paying taxes toward it all the time.

Also I think we have some brilliant people in this country. Sure we have lowlifes as well, but with the number of people being so high that is to be expected, unfortunately.

zero-

Diesel locomotives have a generator motor where diesel is used where a electric locomotive.has a set down transformer than a inverter where use three phase traction motors. The difference here is electric is more powerful along get accelerate faster along with green energy is used to reduce green house gases. Healthcare is paid by higher taxes where no matter economic status you are covered where the life expectancy is longer than countries which have no healthcare. Tax breaks for billionaires where no money is being invested back into the economy where China is moving ahead while other countries fall. Germany for example has a industrial policy where free education paid by taxes and public and private healthcare that pays not deny. In a modern factory is automated where you require highly skilled people to operate. High speed rail for passenger and freight is more efficient where high speed rail takes less time than a domestic flights. DJT thinks we are going accept tariffs while we are applying counter tariffs which is going bring back industry where no industrial policy is the problem. Every country has people who are on social assistance where workfare cuts that down like what is happening in Germany. In Canada we gaining Us doctors where it is easy to do so. For a doctors here they decide what is required for medication, specialist doctors, diagnostic procedures then twice a month they get a cheque from provincial government. No hassle with insurance companies who to deny coverage. A country can not borrow while a economy declines where needs to be a minimum tax to reduce borrowing. Sooner or later Congress is to govern the Us not one man who lies about everything where every month the economy is on the decline. Nixon said the economy is important where he was fired for a lot less than DJT. Now today Putin is going to make a fool where ceasefire is not stop future invasion. Ukraine is not give land to the brutal occupier. As Russia runs out resources where the North Koreans and Chinese solders along with losing tanks the war will come to end when Russia goes bankrupt where the war has come to Russia where oil refineries are being blown up and military factories becoming ruble. Simple Putin gives back all the land they occupied then war is over or Russia goes bankrupt than Putin is out.

Diesel locomotives have a generator motor where diesel is used where a electric locomotive.has a set down transformer than a inverter where use three phase traction motors. The difference here is electric is more powerful along get accelerate faster along with green energy is used to reduce green house gases. Healthcare is paid by higher taxes where no matter economic status you are covered where the life expectancy is longer than countries which have no healthcare. Tax breaks for billionaires where no money is being invested back into the economy where China is moving ahead while other countries fall. Germany for example has a industrial policy where free education paid by taxes and public and private healthcare that pays not deny. In a modern factory is automated where you require highly skilled people to operate. High speed rail for passenger and freight is more efficient where high speed rail takes less time than a domestic flights. DJT thinks we are going accept tariffs while we are applying counter tariffs which is going bring back industry where no industrial policy is the problem. Every country has people who are on social assistance where workfare cuts that down like what is happening in Germany. In Canada we gaining Us doctors where it is easy to do so. For a doctors here they decide what is required for medication, specialist doctors, diagnostic procedures then twice a month they get a cheque from provincial government. No hassle with insurance companies who to deny coverage. A country can not borrow while a economy declines where needs to be a minimum tax to reduce borrowing. Sooner or later Congress is to govern the Us not one man who lies about everything where every month the economy is on the decline. Nixon said the economy is important where he was fired for a lot less than DJT. Now today Putin is going to make a fool where ceasefire is not stop future invasion. Ukraine is not give land to the brutal occupier. As Russia runs out resources where the North Koreans and Chinese solders along with losing tanks the war will come to end when Russia goes bankrupt where the war has come to Russia where oil refineries are being blown up and military factories becoming ruble. Simple Putin gives back all the land they occupied then war is over or Russia goes bankrupt than Putin is out.

Wow, you are going all out on this political tirade.

Please take the weekend off from viewing political news. I think you need a bit of a break.