When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

We need manufacturing in the US. The service economy can't survive long term; you have to make things. Tariffs are not fun, but they are an important part of making that happen.

But, tariffs on used cameras or vintage electronics does not help bring manufacturing back. Let's just bring back the de minimis exemption for things like this. More industry targeted tariffs, fewer blanket tariffs.

Or targeted investment in relevant industries, similar to what the previous administration was doing before voters were suckered by the New York con man whose entire campaign was bemoaning everything about our country while apparently having some pretty spicy long-term kompromat hanging over him.

No sure why you are being down-voted. Your argument is coherent and correct.

Targeted tariffs on specific goods leads to the development of local production of that good. Lots and lots of countries have these in place.

Blanket tariffs are, of course, useless. The US doesn't have the climate to grown coffee, so tarifing Brazil serves no purpose other than taxing coffee consumption.

A surgeon uses a scalpel, not an axe. Used well, tariffs are a very powerful tool. Used badly they create more harm, and don't achieve the goal of promoting local production.

Tariffs which are here today, but gone tomorrow, don't created the stable environment which long-term investment in local production requires.

> The US doesn't have the climate to grown coffee

Well, Hawaii does, but your point is good, thank you.

I knew that would come up :). Yes, Hawaii produces about 1% of the coffee consumed in the US. I'm guessing a chunk of that is consumed in Hawaii...

But I'm glad you got the point. :).

You're not very good at it though. You're too aristocratic in your thinking - let the coolies make the stuff, we'll consume it.

The reason services are such a big part of your economy is because you can sit in an air conditioned office, send some emails, push some numbers around on a spreadsheet, and call it work.

> We need manufacturing in the US.

Overall there is a lot of manufacturing in the US. What the US doesn't have are manufacturing jobs because labor is more expensive than automation.

Maybe you meant the US should make sure to have some certain types of manufacturing like chips. In that case, targeted programs are a better approach than any sort of tariffs. See the CHIPS act for example.

Hawaii would even have mountaineous and that island climate that's good for growing coffee. But labor costs probably mean they couldn't compete even if they tried

By themselves even targeted tariffs don't work. Argentina did not become a mobile phone manufacturing hub.

https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/milei-is-scrapping...

While tariffs on coffee do not incentivize coffee growing in US they do two things that are very beneficial for US economy

1) People replace coffee with hot cider, infusion tea or some other local substitute good.

2) Tariff on coffee as set up by Trump incentivize coffee producing countries to buy US goods whether it’s oil or cars to make trade balance more equal.

The only question is the scale of above but tariff on coffee is unquestionably help US producers.

Scale of the country matters. If Argentina (or any other small to medium size country) require extra work, businesses can just walk away - size of market does not justify extra efforts. Bet is that US market size is big enough that no global business can afford to walk away. At 20% of global GDP, US markets is also big enough to make scaled production feasible.

Yes, tarifs can change behavior. I'm not sure that's the goal here, and I'm not convinced there's a local alternative to coffee (at the scale Americans drink coffee.)

>> Tariff on coffee as set up by Trump incentivize coffee producing countries to buy US goods whether it’s oil or cars to make trade balance more equal.

Countries don't buy goods, people do. Apparently insulting Canada didn't make them decide to consume more made-in-America goods. I'm not sure that random acts of insulting leads yo the effects you are proposing.

I'm not a coffee drinker normally, I have never acquired the taste, but I had some hand-picked perfectly roasted coffee on our last visit to Kona and it was divine. Completely straight, nothing added. I have some appreciation now of why some people like coffee, as I could drink that every day. I probably couldn't handle that much caffeine, however.