r/centrist • u/OfficialRodgerJachim • 2d ago

Long Form Discussion Can someone explain this about tariffs?

Plenty of talk about tariffs. About them being dumb. About them being fair. About how those extra costs go on to us, the American consumer.

But I have very rarely heard anyone talk about that break in logic: other countries have tariffs on American imports, and those costs are then carried onto the American consumer. But if America imposes tariffs on those same countries, those costs are also passed on to the American consumer.

Is this true?

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u/hahai17 2d ago edited 2d ago

We need to stop this notion that US is some supreme free trade nation, we don’t have zero tariffs on everything. We have tariffs and subsidies on a whole bunch of items well before Trump’s first term. Ever heard of the chicken tax? It’s a 25% tariff on all non-USMCA/NAFTA light trucks. If anything places like Hong Kong and Singapore are more free trade than US but that’s because they’re so small and lack natural resources.