If the new tariff was higher than the tariff agreement you had, why not?
Which countries had agreements with rates lower than 15% that were also set to expire in 150 days?
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“Should tariffs be refunded back to importers or to American people”?
Why should Trump’s tariffs be refunded to anyone when they are permissible under one or more of the following statutes?
Tariff Act of 1930, Section 338
Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934
Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962;
Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974;
Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974;
And, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977
Ignorance of the law is not applicable to petitioners.
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I think paying down the debt could be played politically too.
Yes in candy land
I take it you are a big supporter of the Marxist inspired income tax.
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I am a big supporter of reality. Nobody actually likes taxes.
Your deflection is noted.
The “reality” is, an income tax was famously proposed as the second of ten essential measures in the 1848 Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
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Great post.
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We were a rich country when we used tariffs. That was before the Federal Income Tax.
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The Great Depression coincidentally happened within the first generation of the Income Tax. 
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And was made worse by tarrifs 
Wasn’t made better by getting rid of the income taxes either.
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we were also a much smaller country and we were selling land left and right.
Back to the tariffs. They worked.
And are working.
I’m surprised at the international leverage Trump is getting out or tariffs. We get lots of bluster from the target countries, and plenty of media support for them, but once things settle down, Trump often gets his way.
And more manufacturing is ramping up in the USA. It takes time, of course, but it’s happening. Initially, that was one of the points of tariffs. Buy USA stuff. But it has to be made here first if we are to buy it.
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By what objective measure?
we are losing manufacturing jobs currently
The trade deals is the objective measure. Though some have been put on hold The problem with tariffs is and always will be that they are not a permanent solution Nor should they be
We are not losing manufacturing jobs presently. Nor is manufacturing growing.
There are 400-600k manufacturing job openings presently. That number has held steady since about 2022. The sector is not growing nor is it shrinking.
Not to supplant income taxes. That not reality.
Yes! The United States was a very prosperous country when our Constitution was followed and taxing consumption at our water’s edge was used in conjunction with an apportioned direct tax to extinguish any deficit. Unfortunately, socialist got their way in 1913 with the adoption of the Marxist inspired tax on incomes.
FROM AI
The Socialist Party, alongside other populist and labor groups, was indeed a strong proponent of the 16th Amendment, which established the federal income tax.
Early Advocacy: The Socialist Labor Party officially advocated for a graduated income tax as early as 1887.
Political Pressure: By the early 1900s, the Socialist Party’s growing influence helped shift the national conversation toward progressive taxation to reduce income inequality.
In the 1910 elections, the first Socialist Party member, Victor L. Berger, won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In the 1912 presidential election, Socialist candidate Eugene V. Debs received approximately 6% of the popular vote, reflecting significant public appetite for radical economic reform.
Support for Ratification: While the amendment was technically proposed by a coalition in Congress (including some conservatives who mistakenly believed it would fail), the Socialist Party and its supporters were key in the grassroots and state-level movements that led to its ratification in 1913.
Ideological Goal: The party viewed a graduated income tax as a vital tool to shift the tax burden away from the working class—who were disproportionately affected by high tariffs—and onto wealthy “financiers and capitalists”.
I’m hoping Trump comes out in favor of “The Fair Share Balanced Budget Amendment” which begins:
“SECTION 1. The Sixteenth Amendment is hereby repealed and Congress is henceforth forbidden to lay any tax or burden calculated from profits, gains, sales, interest, salaries, wages, tips, inheritances or any other lawfully realized money.
NOTE: these words would return us to our Constitution’s original tax plan as our Founders’ intended it to operate! They would also end the experiment with allowing Congress to lay and collect taxes calculated from lawfully earned “incomes” which now oppresses America‘s economic engine and robs the bread which working people have earned when selling the property each has in their own labor, not to mention the amendment would end federal taxation being used as a political weapon to harass and attack political opponents!
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