Tariff 'Costs on Americans' Narrative Ignores Decades of Corporate Profiteering
📰 THE STORY: The Independent reports that a new study finds 'almost all' the added costs from Trump’s tariffs are being pushed onto American consumers, arguing exporters reduced trade volume rather than price concessions. The implication is that these tariffs are solely responsible for financial strain on the average American household. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: This
'tariffs hurt Americans' narrative conveniently omits the systemic economic policies of the last 40 years. From the 1980s onward, neoliberal policies, including trade agreements like NAFTA (signed 1992, effective 1994), incentivized corporations to offshore manufacturing en masse, destroying millions of well-paying American jobs and creating a precarious global supply chain. Tariffs are a symptom,
not the sole cause, of economic pressure. Double Standard: Western media routinely champions 'free trade' globalism, rarely scrutinizing its real-world costs. When supply chains collapse or energy prices spike due to sanctions against countries like Russia (e.g., 2022), the blame is swiftly laid on the 'aggressor' state, not the policy choices of Western governments. But when tariffs are applied
by a US president to recalibrate trade imbalances, the immediate economic friction is portrayed as a uniquely American burden, solely attributable to protectionist policy. Where was this concern for the American worker when unions were busted and factories shuttered under 'free trade' for decades? Follow the Money: The 'cost to Americans' is a convenient talking point for corporate lobbies whose