Oh I do agree that we need to re-invest in our industries. Absolutely. But tariffs are a cheap way to compete. Although there is definitely some truth to the fact that the conditions of Mexico specifically when it comes to auto part manufacturing they have an edge and it's the fault of our policies and trade.
American products need higher standards. American jobs need higher standards. We cannot bully our way back into the market.
Tariffs are not about hurting others but forcing foreign producers (many of which are huge corporations like Honda or Toyota or whatever) to bring production internally. If Toyota is looking at 25% tariffs on their cars going to US, then there is a huge incentive to move that factory from wherever in Canada to the US to avoid that tariff.
I grew up in a neighborhood that was once affluent and was essentially built around two Ford and GM plants close together. Back in the 80s and 90s it was considered a 'good' neighborhood. Fast forward to early 2000s and both Ford and GM decided that these US factories aren't that economical and they moved them out of here to a foreign country (including Mexico or Canada). The neighborhood slowly became shit. Eventually all the businesses that could strive as periphery beneficiaries because of those factories that employed thousands died out. The diners, the car shops, even the roads and other infrastructure became shit as it no longer made sense for the city to invest in that part of town to maintain. The people living there, the ones that could, moved out, many never found comparable paying jobs. The neighborhood now is left for dead. There's no businesses there, there's no where to work outside the McDonalds or some other run of the mill AutoZone or Dollar General or whatever other minor employer. My story is basically a copy paste of what has happened across dozens of cities across the rust belt and other parts of the country. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, many millions impacted.
There is no easy or good way out of this. There's only so many service jobs available. There's only so many finance or IT or medical jobs available. The service economy is very fragile and dependent on consumption. We need to have some manufacturing base that's why Germany, Japan, China all fight for some piece of the manufacturing pie.
Many truly bought into the WSJ propaganda that tells people that all benefit when stuff is made somewhere else for cheap and brought here, but you have to realize who's paying WSJ to say that, and i can promise you it's not people that have your interest in mind but care about profit maximization.
We could continue to be cucked as we import everything and make nothing. They tell you it's the consumer that suffers, what they don't tell you it's also the Honda and Toyota shareholder that benefits from higher margins by producing in lower cost jurisdictions.
This post was edited by ofthevoid on Feb 2 2025 10:41am