Circuit boards. Gas tanks. Lumber. What could they possibly have in common? All of these products are manufactured in countries that President Trump has vowed to place tariffs on, just over two months into his second term. However, there have been some major misunderstandings—both among politicians and the general public—over what exactly a tariff is. Generally, a tariff is a tax that one nation will impose on goods imported from another nation. But many supporters of President Trump, and the politicians aligned with him, seem to have the idea that this tax is paid by the government of the country it is being imposed on, yet the tax is actually paid by the company or enterprise that is importing those goods. For instance, if a grocery store in the US wants to import its maple syrup from Canada, that store will pay the tariff, not the Canadian government. That’s not to say that countries who have tariffs imposed on them suffer no financial hardship—US companies would be less likely to import goods from a country if they would have to pay the tariff, leading to fewer exports and less overall revenue for industries in that country. But American consumers are ultimately hurt the most, as any import costs would be passed on directly to the consumer.
Trump’s reasoning for imposing these tariffs is necessary to consider as we connect his actions to his broader plan for the US. For months leading up to the 2024 election and afterwards, he expressed an imperialist fantasy of the US possibly annexing Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. The tariffs on Canada in particular seem to be Trump’s way of applying economic pressure in pursuit of the goal of taking control of a sovereign nation. Sure, his administration has slightly more succinct arguments—the White House claims that the proposed 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada are part of a plan to fight “the extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl.” Never mind the fact that only one percent of fentanyl in the US enters from Canada, and even among the larger amounts of fentanyl that enter from Mexico, a whopping 88 percent of the offenders arrested for trafficking, in recent years, were US citizens, according to the US government’s own statistics. It’s clear that Trump is not only misunderstanding the problem, he is actively pursuing a solution that helps no one and only serves to hurt American consumers and our extremely valuable relationships with our North American allies and neighbors.
But what no one in the Trump administration seems to either realize or admit is that his proposed tariffs will do basically the opposite of bringing in more money from imported goods. Most of the tariff costs for imported goods will be passed on from the importer to the consumer, subjecting Americans to higher prices on a wide range of goods. And these tariffs will hit hardest on goods that we use every day. Americans bought approximately 15.9 million cars and light trucks in 2024, and while these shiny new vehicles might be advertised as “Made in USA,” much of the supply chain for cars assembled in the US passes through Canada and Mexico in the process. Automakers, such as Ford, Toyota, Nissan, and more, have factories in all three countries, and car parts move back and forth during the assembly process. This means that parts and car bodies which have to be moved back and forth between Mexico, Canada, and the US during assembly would be subject to multiple different tariffs, and the resulting price increase would be passed on directly to the consumer, making it even more expensive to purchase cars like the Toyota RAV4 or Chevy Silverado—assembled in Canada and Mexico, respectively. But the Trump-friendly conservative media ecosystem has conveniently ignored the consumer cost aspect of his proposed tariffs, an especially glaring omission given that the price of consumer goods and groceries was such a hot-button issue this election cycle.
Favorable write-ups of the policy are a dime a dozen on outlets like Fox News, which recently published an article titled “The left thinks Trump’s tariffs are a declaration of war. But they’re clueless about the battlefield.” Author E.J. Antoni makes the case that Trump is simply responding to “long-standing economic attacks” from allies like the European Union and Canada, but this argument (which Trump also frequently makes) that other nations are taking advantage of the US via unfair trade policies is simply not true. His fascination with tariffs is partly an illusion of power—he can theoretically force other nations to do his bidding under threat of tariff, and we know from the last decade of American politics that an appearance of great power is a favorite of Trump’s. But the illusion of power is just that, and Trump’s strongman image as a foreign policy dealmaker has already been interrupted just two months into his second term. After a call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on March 5, Trump quickly walked back his plans and announced that the originally proposed 25 percent tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian imports would not actually go into effect until April 2, the latest delay in a tariff plan that was originally supposed to begin on March 4.
It’s clear that the way in which Trump is attempting to wield the power of tariffs is nothing more than a political show, a distraction from real solutions to the actual problems that face our nation. Despite the rambling “America First” rhetoric that comes out of the White House every day, Trump’s tariffs mean that American consumers and our quickly diminishing reputation on the world stage are paying the price.
