Comment by coderenegade

Yes, but if the profit margin is now higher, it a) permits new competitors, and b) allows breathing room for debts to be paid off, and investments to be made that improve local capabilities. Like most things, tariffs can be good or bad. Yes, they can stifle innovation when there's no additional impetus for improvement, but they can also be necessary to protect local industries that are of strategic importance.

All industry exists in a web, and you can't just excise parts of that web without affecting the whole. The US has de-industrialized while its rivals have grown, and its global dominance is predicated on its technological and military lead. This de-industrialization was purely a function of financial incentives, whereby companies could juice their profit margins by seeking cheaper labor elsewhere, and skilling up foreign populations. But the bill for that is coming due now.