Shifting costs downstream is the point. It imposes a cost on consumers for the externality they are creating by purchasing goods manufactured overseas.

The method you describe is way more easily gamed than a tarrif. What constitutes x% of their goods?

Tarrifs are more proportional to the externality we want to discourage.

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somenameforme 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It also opens the door to competition. Right now in many things we can't compete against places like e.g. China because everything is dramatically more affordable there, including regulatory compliance. Tariff's change this and make it such that domestic producers can produce things at a cost comparable, and ideally less, than other countries.

These tariffs should have been immediately deployed following changes in labor, environmental, and other laws anyhow - because otherwise all we do is just end up defacto outsourcing pollution and other externalities to the lowest foreign bidder, where the only person who really loses is the American worker.

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Aeolun 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Tariff's change this and make it such that domestic producers can produce things at a cost comparable, and ideally less, than other countries.

It’s the opposite. It makes things from other countries more expensive. It doesn’t make things from the US cheaper.

	▲	koolba 18 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> It’s the opposite. It makes things from other countries more expensive. It doesn’t make things from the US cheaper. All prices are relative. If something is more expensive then de facto its alternatives are cheaper in comparison.

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thayne 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Personally, I think a better alternative to tariffs would be to require make regulatory requirements for labor, environmental concerns, etc. for the production of any goods sold in the US. Or maybe have tariffs, but companies can opt in to complying with regulations in order to avoid the tariffs.

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SideburnsOfDoom 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> opens the door to competition. Tariff's change this and make it such that domestic producers can produce things at a cost comparable, and ideally less, than other countries.

Haha, Nope. It's more like closing a door. An actual economist says this:

"If you look at page 1 of the tariff handbook, it says: Don't tariff inputs. It's the simplest way to make it harder—more expensive—for Americans to do business. Any factory around the world can get the steel, copper, and aluminum it needs without paying a 50% upcharge, except an American factory. Think about what that will do to American competitiveness."

https://bsky.app/profile/justinwolfers.bsky.social/post/3lud...

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SmirkingRevenge 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Tariffs are gamed all the time.

They are notorious drivers of corruption, it's one of the reasons they're a disfavored policy. Trump himself visibly engages in it (e.g. Tim Cook giving him a gold statue, Apple tariffs get removed) but corruption will manifest at all levels of the chain.

Tariffs also cost more than the sticker price. Compliance is actually really difficult and expensive especially when everything is made so complex and unpredictable. Enforcement is also expensive and often arbitrary or based on who has or hasn't bribed the right people.