Protectionist Tariffs 101

Who Truly Benefits? (Spoiler: It's Not You)

My Dearest Defenders of Justice,

Back again, are we? Gluttons for truth, each and every one of you — and I adore it.

Today, we rip the velvet curtain from the great stage of economic theater and reveal what’s really going on behind the scenes of this “America First” production. Tariffs, we were told, would protect the American worker. Reinvigorate industry. Level the playing field. A tale as old as Smoot and Hawley. But tell me, darling — if the working class is being crushed under the weight of rising costs, who exactly is being lifted?

Let’s follow the money, shall we?

Tariffs function as a hidden tax — slapped not on foreign companies, but on American importers. The price increase? Passed to manufacturers. Then wholesalers. Then retailers. And finally? You. The consumer. That fancy washing machine? More expensive. That affordable sedan? Out of reach. The cost of a better life just got pricier, all in the name of "economic nationalism."

Now, I hear you — “But what about American steel?” Ah yes. The 2018 steel tariffs. For a brief, shining moment, domestic steelmakers rejoiced. Stock prices spiked. Profits surged. CEOs clinked glasses. But while the steelmakers celebrated, the industries that use steel — construction, auto manufacturing, heavy equipment — were dealt a sledgehammer to the wallet. When their costs soared, they did what corporations always do: laid off workers and automated jobs. Net job loss. Fewer paychecks. A policy billed as job-saving turned into a pink-slip machine.

Let us not forget the farmers — mythologized in campaign ads, forgotten in practice. Retaliatory tariffs from China struck them like a bolt of lightning. Soybeans, pork, corn — unsold, unshipped, unwanted. Desperation mounted. And what did our great defenders of the people offer? Not a solution. Not a negotiation. Just subsidies. Bailouts. Bribes dressed up as band-aids. Meanwhile, Brazil stepped in to take our place in China’s market. A strategic blunder of epic proportions.

So again, I ask: who benefits?

The well-connected industries with the best lobbyists. The executives who can wait out the storm from the safety of golden parachutes. And Wall Street — that perennial vampire — which thrives on volatility and chaos. They win. You lose.

Tariffs are not a tool of justice. They are a cudgel of convenience, wielded by those who whisper populist poetry in public and sign backroom deals in private.

Keep your chin up and your irony detectors on high alert. We still have more rot to expose.

With clarity and caffeine,
Lady LiberTea
Editor-in-Chief of Lady LiberTea

#TariffWinnersAndLosers #NotForThePeople #EconomicSmokeAndMirrors #LadyLiberTea