I know I swore I was done....
I understand that the point of transaction for the tariff is the importer, but in order for the company producing the goods to maintain competitive pricing, they have to cut costs or raise prices. Either of those is actions cost the manufacturing company money and/or market share, which is money. They can't normally (especially with luxury/consumer items like electronics) just raise prices. People will stop buying, which will retract the economy, which is bad. I think China is in a bad place though. They can't stop selling to the US or their entire economy will collapse.
You know the old adage, "cheap, fast, good. Pick 2"? The American consumer wants all three.
The company producing the goods doesn't have to remain competitive, because in many cases there aren't many other good options. The number of places set up for manufacturing, with access to a port, and access to massive amounts of cheap labor are limited. There are likely very few options for purchasing raw materials and manufactured goods outside of the countries these tariffs are going on, without massive investment in infrastructure. This may very well happen, and in many cases I'm certain it will (like your Toyota example), but not everywhere. Like was said somewhere above, this approach needs to happen with scalpel, not a hammer.
American consumer's will still want things cheap/fast/good, so American importers and business owners will have to be the ones to figure out how to maintain competitive pricing in an economy that has increased competition for every dollar in the consumer's pocket. And there are less of those due to real property costs sky rocketing creating elevated rents (both residential and commercial). Businesses have to charge more, can pay less, and goods are going to cost more (while wage growth will stagnate, especially as unemployment begins climbing). Only the VERY large will be able to survive on thin margins due to their higher volumes and economies of scale. This is all very bad. For all of us. But, you saw Bezos there right? Right. Small businesses start to collapse, defaulting on SBA loans to the government, driving up unemployment and creating competition for jobs that will drive wages down even further relative to the CPI.
But all of this is happening as we just normalize the othering of America. "us" and "them" and very little we. It's a systematic and, in my opinion, intentional division sewn by this administration for a very deliberate purpose. We can't (or aren't willing to) listen to each other because we're so busy calling each other pathetic and stupid if "they" don't accept our absolutist position on the most insanely complex and nuanced issues that we likely have little more than surface level knowledge of anyway. It's like a pissing match between arm-chair-quarterbacks. And while we're all covered in our own piss, the super rich are busy setting the table for their feast.
I don't think Trump anticipates these tariffs being a long term thing. They are a short term disruption to get other countries to change anti American policies. We are already seeing a resurgence of Tech companies moving manufacturing to the US. The CHIPS act (one of Biden's better moves) jump started this. These are high paying manufacturing jobs that the US is perfectly suited for if we aren't being robbed and cheated into bankruptcy by East Asian government ran companies. I know lumber and other markets are different.
Yes, because the techno-crats (thanks for that
@Herzog ) can profit there because we have a more skilled work force and relatively inexpensive energy prices compared to other places with similarly skilled available labor. But I don't think Trump anticipates much besides his next golf outing or trip into the Miss America dressing room. I don't think he has an inner monologue. He just spouts off whatever random thing comes to his mind, surrounds himself with his yes men to fondle his ego and say the rich old billionaire equivalent of "ya boiiiiieeeee", and is then emboldened to double down on it. Embellish it with some hyperbole, take a shot at someone that his followers also hate to draw some A to B connection, and boom. Let's go to Panama. It works so beautifully because once he says the next ridiculous thing and we all start talking about it, we forget about the last absurd thing he said and he never has to follow through with any of it.
Anyway...I'm so weak. Back to my troll-hole.