I've heard about a dozen retroactive justifications from various right-wing pundits, all of which are nonsense. Fundamentally it all boils down to "Trump likes tariffs".
It's like the various justifications for the second amendment, all of which are just a fantasy. The real argument is "I like guns", that's it.
If America actually wanted to wean themselves off Chinese industrial output, this would have to be done with highly predictable tariffs ramped up slowly over time with a concurrent program of incentives for local manufacturers.
What they're doing right now is grabbing China's arm, punching themselves in the face with it, and screaming "I hope this hurts your fist!" as a way to avoid a fist-fight in the future they didn't start themselves.
It's like the various justifications for the second amendment, all of which are just a fantasy. The real argument is "I like guns", that's it.
If America actually wanted to wean themselves off Chinese industrial output, this would have to be done with highly predictable tariffs ramped up slowly over time with a concurrent program of incentives for local manufacturers.
What they're doing right now is grabbing China's arm, punching themselves in the face with it, and screaming "I hope this hurts your fist!" as a way to avoid a fist-fight in the future they didn't start themselves.