> 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.

But price elasticity isn't infinite. A large part of the middle class would be priced out of most modern amenities if these would be produced domestically. Import substitution is one of these things that sounds nice in theory but tend to be highly damaging in practice.

If something (e.g. imported metal) is more expensive then alternatives (e.g. domestically refined metals) will get price increases too.