Ana Swanson

But typically he sees tariffs as his primary tool for bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States and helping the U.S. economy. And he has really extensive plans to impose them around the world with our trading partners in order to do that.

But typically he sees tariffs as his primary tool for bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States and helping the U.S. economy. And he has really extensive plans to impose them around the world with our trading partners in order to do that.

And that is a sharp contrast with the current President Biden, who really thinks that the way you keep jobs in the United States is by directly investing in American industry.

And that is a sharp contrast with the current President Biden, who really thinks that the way you keep jobs in the United States is by directly investing in American industry.

Yeah, it's a really interesting moment in trade policy where we're shifting from one tool to the other. Trump sort of having a big stick, Biden maybe offering a carrot. So Biden is trying to incentivize companies to manufacture in the United States. And in order to do that, he's giving them money.

Yeah, it's a really interesting moment in trade policy where we're shifting from one tool to the other. Trump sort of having a big stick, Biden maybe offering a carrot. So Biden is trying to incentivize companies to manufacture in the United States. And in order to do that, he's giving them money.

Yeah. So I covered trade during President Trump's first term. It was a very wild time for trade policy. He put tariffs on all kinds of things. He put them on solar panels, washing machines, hundreds of billions of dollars of goods from China. But I think a helpful example for us to look at is his tariffs on steel.

Yeah. So I covered trade during President Trump's first term. It was a very wild time for trade policy. He put tariffs on all kinds of things. He put them on solar panels, washing machines, hundreds of billions of dollars of goods from China. But I think a helpful example for us to look at is his tariffs on steel.

So steel was an industry that the United States had been pretty dominant in until it was gradually outsourced to cheaper places like China. And so China began flooding the market with cheap steel. It now makes over half of the world's steel. And Trump thought that was unfair.

So steel was an industry that the United States had been pretty dominant in until it was gradually outsourced to cheaper places like China. And so China began flooding the market with cheap steel. It now makes over half of the world's steel. And Trump thought that was unfair.

He also thought this was an issue of national security.

He also thought this was an issue of national security.

that the United States needed to have its own steel mills in the case of war to be able to produce its own metals.

that the United States needed to have its own steel mills in the case of war to be able to produce its own metals.

He imposed tariffs of 25% on foreign steel and 10% on aluminum. And those tariffs didn't just go on China or American rivals. He put them on countries globally, so even allies like Mexico and Canada.

He imposed tariffs of 25% on foreign steel and 10% on aluminum. And those tariffs didn't just go on China or American rivals. He put them on countries globally, so even allies like Mexico and Canada.

Yeah, so it might be helpful to remember what a tariff is here. So it's a tax on a good when it comes across the border. And the goal of that is to raise the price of foreign goods. And that means that consumers domestically have less incentive to buy that more expensive foreign good, and they have more incentive to buy the American-made good, which can now compete more easily.

Yeah, so it might be helpful to remember what a tariff is here. So it's a tax on a good when it comes across the border. And the goal of that is to raise the price of foreign goods. And that means that consumers domestically have less incentive to buy that more expensive foreign good, and they have more incentive to buy the American-made good, which can now compete more easily.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, that's right.