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Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” is turning our economy toward recession. Then what?
Unemployment increases. Retail sales suffer. Small businesses go out of business. Less tax revenue for local governments. Reduced public assistance for those who live below the poverty line.
Buckle up folks, Trumpenomics is here.
The more you watch him work, the more you understand the litany of business failures.
But one should give him credit, he’s managed to get rich after taking over the Republican Party and instituting any number of pay-to-play policies. Sure, he’s running the country into the ground and we will all be screwed for decades, but hey, Trump’s finally achieved the personal wealth he’s struggled to get for decades. Surely he won’t screw it up this time, right?
This article highlights the real challenges that small retailers, like Toodleydoo Toys and Stout’s Footwear, are facing due to newly imposed tariffs, especially on goods from China. While these tariffs are meant to encourage a long-term rebirth of American manufacturing, they expose a much deeper issue: the United States no longer produces many of the essential goods we rely on every day.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, this overdependence on foreign manufacturing became a major vulnerability. Americans quickly learned that many critical items, masks, gloves, ventilators, medicines, and even basic electronics, were no longer made in the U.S., but overseas, particularly in China. When global supply chains collapsed, the shortages that followed weren’t just inconvenient, they endangered lives and crippled industries. As a Nurse and Supply Chain Managment leader I can tell you that everyone was scrabbling for anything they could get, there just wasn’t any to be had, and China wasn’t shipping them to the U.S.
China, in particular, has engaged in a long list of unfair trade practices with governmental support. These include heavy state subsidies for manufacturers, intellectual property theft, currency manipulation, and the use of low-cost, often exploitative labor to dominate global markets. American companies haven’t just been competing with Chinese businesses; they’ve been competing against the financial power of the Chinese government itself. See Lesley Weidenbener Commentary: Sewing-machine maker says tariffs are ‘worth a shot’
This combination of offshoring critical production and tolerating unfair competition has weakened America’s economic independence and national security. The lesson from COVID-19 was clear: relying on other countries, especially strategic competitors like China, for vital supplies is a major risk.
That’s why reshoring, bringing industries and manufacturing back to the United States, is so important. We need to rebuild domestic capabilities not only for national security, but also to create good-paying jobs, stabilize supply chains, and strengthen our economy. Sectors like pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, critical minerals, medical equipment, and consumer goods are top priorities for this effort.
Reshoring will not be quick or easy. As the article points out, rebuilding a robust American manufacturing base could take a decade or longer, and prices for goods may rise in the short term. However, the alternative of continuing to depend on unstable foreign supply chains poses a much greater risks for the future.
Ultimately, reshoring is not just about economic policy. It’s about protecting our ability to care for our people, defend our nation, and ensure that American small businesses, like Toodleydoo Toys, can thrive without being crushed by forces beyond their control.
The Current Administration is so afraid that China might decide to tighten its grip on our economy, that they decided they we should strangle ourselves instead.
When China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the U.S. hoped it would open China’s markets, promote democracy, and integrate China into a U.S.-led global order. Economically, U.S. consumers and companies benefited, but American manufacturing jobs declined by over 4 million. Politically, China strengthened its communist system rather than liberalizing or moving more towards a democracy. China used WTO rules to its advantage, boosting its economy dramatically while resisting political reforms. The U.S. underestimated how China would shape globalization to fit its own model and that model does not bode well for us. So after 25 years of this experiment, it’s time to change course and begin a manufacturing revolution withing the U.S. If any country can do it, it is us!
Just means higher prices. Trumpers were told to blame the last bout of inflation on Biden – not covid (even though inflation was worldwide) – and I’m sure they will be told to blame this resulting inflation on Biden – not Trump policies – as well. None so blind as those who will not see.
Nobody seemed to care about importing for the 25 years prior to covid when we were all reaping the benefits of low inflation mostly resulting from shifts to off-shoring. Now we all could get the accumulation of what that pent up inflation would have been. Fact of the matter, tariffs are not permanent, they can be cancelled as quickly as they can be implemented. So will businesses be willing to invest tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to re-establish manufacturing in the US (which will take as long as it did to off shore) at the risk of being at a long term cost disadvantage or half pregnant if the tariffs are lifted? Either way, US consumers will pay either the increased tariffs or the higher cost of capital investment, labor, energy, and materials that will be incurred by moving manufacturing to the US. It’s a lose-lose situation for consumers.
Some industries as it relates to national security or critical supply chain requirements should be protected but Trumps broad blanket approach is going to dramatically increase the cost of the majority of goods that affect consumers daily lives (electronics, appliances, furniture, disposable goods, toys, sports equipment, clothing, footware, etc). All the stuff they buy at Wal-mart, Dollar Tree, and Target every day. But I guess if you are rich and never walk into those places it doesn’t matter. Not to mention, a lot of theTrump merchandise will go up in price when (or if) he decides to stop importing it himself.
BTW, the trade deficit increased 41% over the 4 yrs of the first Trump administration’s policies.
While it’s true that tariffs can raise consumer costs temporarily, President Trump’s approach was a strategic course correction after decades of dangerous overreliance on adversarial nations like China. COVID exposed how hollowed-out our supply chains had become — we couldn’t even make masks, PPE, or basic medicines without foreign help. Tariffs were a way to force the issue and begin reshoring critical industries to protect American security and jobs.
Under Trump, inflation stayed low because federal spending was kept relatively disciplined outside of COVID relief. In contrast, Biden’s administration injected $2 trillion into an overheated economy under the false name of the “Inflation Reduction Act” — which had almost nothing to do with inflation and everything to do with funding massive Green New Deal initiatives. Basic economics: flood an economy with money without matching production, and prices rise. Hence, Biden’s record-high inflation rates.
As for the argument about tariffs causing long-term uncertainty: yes, reshoring manufacturing is expensive and not instant, but the alternative, continued dependency on nations like China, who openly manipulate markets, subsidize industries, steal intellectual property, and engage in unfair practices with state blessing, is a national security risk. It’s not just about cheaper toys and TVs; it’s about whether the U.S. controls its future.
Finally, citing the trade deficit under Trump without noting the context, such as a booming U.S. economy, a strong dollar (which increases imports), and a global slowdown outside the U.S., is disingenuous. A strong economy naturally consumes more goods, including imports.
In short: tariffs were an imperfect but necessary tool to rebalance a dangerously tilted global system. Biden’s reckless spending, not Trump’s corrective actions, caused the inflation Americans are now suffering under.