Those statements are marketing and/or propaganda, and their logic don't match up to the actions that were taken:
- Both countries with trade surpluses and deficits were all tariffed -- therefore this is not about re-balancing trade.
- Inputs required for on-shoring were all tariffed -- therefore this isn't about bringing manufacturing on-shore.
- Both geopolitical rivals and allies were all tariffed -- therefore this isn't about defence. (Russia was specifically excluded!)
- Only "goods" were factored into the calculation, services were not, despite being the major US export, making this very unfair to countries that export goods and import services -- therefore this isn't about trade policy becoming more fair.
Etc...
Just yesterday I was debating the supposed benefits of the tariffs with a conservative friend of mine, and it was the same problem: They couldn't draw an arrow between "enact sweeping tariffs" and "... profit".
Every country for the history of the world that has enacted sweeping tariffs has suffered for it, every time.
Protectionism like this causes domestic industries to become inefficient because they don't have to compete on a level playing field against foreign products.
-- The Trump administration's answer to this is simply: "No it won't!", without any stated reason.
Blanket tariffs reduces the efficiency of on-shore businesses, because they are penalised for buying from more efficient foreign sources of inputs that can't be made locally. Here on HN people mentioned coffee, chocolate, olive oil, avocados, and other food products that require specific climates. Similar logic applies to many other inputs, such as industrial robots (Germany), lithography machines (Netherlands), rare earths (China), etc, etc...
-- The Trump administration's answer to this is simply: "No it won't!", without any stated reason.
The people behind this keep drawing a couple of circles and waving their hands while proclaiming that drawing the rest of the owl is easy.
Okay. Show me a drawing of the rest of the fucking owl.