alt Hacker NewsI was reading an interesting article about tariffs put on foreign garlic or mushrooms can't remember which, rather than buying American companies just paid more for the foreign product and charged higher prices. The American makers of the product didn't sell more the company's just didn't care. Prices will go up Americans will buy less deflation will occur because they have to sell the product.
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Short term consequences are probably different then long term.
In the short term you can't just create a new garlic farm in a day.
In the long term it will still be more expensive (if american garlic was the cheap option they would have used it from the get-go) but there will probably be more adjustments then in the short term
That's part of the reason why these tarrifs are so stupid. There is no warning on the specifics so there isnt time for companies to come up with alternative plans. Given how inconsistent trump is, there is also limited incentive to seek alternative supply chains, because who knows if he will just change his mind again.
Likely will result in worse products as well (which is what happens when you remove competition).
LaTam is perfect example on how bad this "wide" protectionism is. There's a ton of economic papers about it.
If you really want protectionism, you could do something more similar to how South Korea did, by choosing specific sectors of economy you want to "protect", to create a "national industry".
Most protectionist industrial policies also exempt imports of machines and other supplies used in factories.
e.g. It makes no sense to put tariffs on machines used in a factory in the USA. AS that would make it more expensive for a factory to operate if they have to import a more expensive machine from Germany. "Buy a machine from the U.S", that would mean a more expensive machine likely, as it only exists because of tariffs.
That basically means you'll have factories on best case scenario, but your cars, your computers, phones, won't be exported.