Trade deficit

[PoS]

[Winchester]

[gla22]

[PoS]

Tariffs may have been feasible back in the pre Industrial Age but they would be economic suicide if you do them now since the world outsources everything from raw materials to manufacturing and even services. With the much of the corporate profit margins so razor thin now putting up a tariff would be a disaster.

[gla22]

[exploited]

Tariffs are a necessary part of the industrialization process, but once you're developed, they tend to be harmful. PoS was incorrect to say they are always disastrous. India, China, Japan, none of them would have developed without tariffs. It would be like putting an eight year old in a professional sports league.

[PoS]

[exploited]

[PoS]

[exploited]

Haha are you kidding me? Tariffs were crucial for the American industrial revolution, which protected them from cheap British imports and paid for 80-90% of the federal government, which undertook vast infrastructure projects no business could, and kept taxes low, stimulating more growth.

You need to read a history book.

"Tariffs in United States," Wikipedia:

In the U.S. all these conditions applied except for the lack of raw materials. The new textile producing machines (the start of the Industrial Revolution) developed by Britain were prohibited to be imported to what would become the United States (and elsewhere), skilled mechanics and engineers knowledgeable about these machines were prohibited from emigration and the U.S. had significantly higher wages due to the lack of people—one of the main reasons people immigrated to the U.S.

A protective tariff was proposed by Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton to help overcome these handicaps while knowledge and organization skills were accumulated to build competitive industries and to allow higher wages to be paid in these industries. These protectionist ideas were slowly adopted as a combination of Federal tariff revenue and protection were the main goals of tariffs. More imported goods could easily be paid for by exporting more raw products.

Major problems occurred in this state of affairs starting in the Napoleonic Wars when both France and Britain tried to interfere with each other's trade by blockading U.S. (and other) shipping. In 1807 imports dropped by more than half and some products became much more expensive or unobtainable. Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807 and the Non-Intercourse Act (1809) to punish British and French governments for their actions; unfortunately their main effect was to reduce imports even more. The War of 1812 brought a similar set of problems as U.S. trade was again restricted by British naval blockades and Congress needed additional funds to expand the U.S. Army and rebuild the U.S. Navy, which had largely been disbanded after the Revolutionary War. Tariffs were adjusted and the excise tax on whiskey reinstated to cover most of these costs.

The lack of imported goods relatively quickly gave very strong incentives to start building several U.S. industries. Slowly but surely many of the initial handicaps were overcome as knowledge about the machinery and/or the organization of industries were released by Britain or "emigrated from" the British isles, Holland or wherever they were more developed. Many new industries were set up and run profitably during the wars and about half of them failed after hostilities ceased and normal imports resumed. Industry in the U.S. was advancing up the skill set, innovation knowledge and organization curve.