I'm not an economist, but I'll give you the small businessman's perspective. I have a trucking company. I can easily compete with other trucking companies that have equivalent costs to my own...that is all American companies AND all Canadian companies. But, you throw Mexican companies into the mix, now I am at a significant disadvantage...as a Mexican driver can work for about half of what an American or Canadian can live on, because the cost of living is lower in Mexico than the US and Canada.
In a business where a 5 cent per mile (cpm) discount makes a huge impact on freight contracts, and a Mexican company is getting a 15 cpm reduced labor rate, the Mexican company is actual making more profit than I am, even though they are charging less, and getting more contracts. You can see the eventual endgame...I either close my doors, or move my headquarters to Mexico and hire all Mexican drivers in order to compete.
And that is why we don't have a free market trucking industry and why Mexico was held to a 100 mile from Mexican border zone for 10 years after NAFTA was signed. Today, Mexican trucks and Canadian trucks can haul freight out of their respective countries into the U.S. and U.S. freight back to their respective countries.
This is why I understand the need for Tariffs. What we need is fair trade...and that means fair to the American worker, not just businesses. Democrat claim to be in favor of that...but for partisan reason, block attempts to level the playing field.
As long as American companies are forced to compete against a colossal wage disparity, high taxes, worker safety regulations, a litigious society and government bureaucracy, there is no way to compete against foreign companies other that for our own companies to move overseas.
We would be beyond foolish to retreat on worker safety, litigation is not going to be reduced in any meaningful way, government bureaucracy isn't going away...and unless Americans want to live in shanty towns and eat rice and beans, we can't reduce our cost of living.
So what, if not tariffs...fair tariffs that mitigate the higher costs American companies face...is the solution?
Serious responses only please...partisan hackery will be dismissed out of hand.