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

Tariffs are great. They protect the struggling domestic IT industry and gives it time to ramp up its production of vintage computer parts.

I know one US business that used to make niche electronic product. Most components they used were from China. Got hit by the tariffs that wiped all the operating profit. Guy also had to sell his home and is now couchsurfing. Business is unlikely going to recover.

Of course he considered making chips and other components in the US, but he was few billions short to start the fab.

I am imagining Mexican cartels smuggling hardware into the US...

(But seriously I do not know how good US Customs is but in my country every day millions of packages from Asia arrive and they are checking not even a percent).

This kind of happens. There are all sorts of cases of counterfit ICs. Some even making it into military hardware