From Wyoming Traders
Alan Chadwick at the trade show
For nearly 35 years, Wyoming entrepreneur Alan Chadwick has run a business that imports clothing from China and sells Western-style clothing in stores catering to America’s “working cowboys.”
While former President Donald Trump is currently campaigning on a promise to impose 10% to 20% tariffs, or border taxes, on all goods imported from China, Chadwick is not concerned with his own policy. There is a need to drastically reconsider. strategy.
The 66-year-old is considering moving manufacturing of his products, which include wool snap shirts and canvas jackets, to India or Pakistan, or closing his Wyoming Traders business, which employs 16 people, and retiring altogether. are.
Chadwick said the tariffs were “a tax on the American people” and warned that the costs for companies like his to open factories in the United States are unrealistic.
But as he prepares to vote, he expects him to put aside his concerns about tariffs in favor of other priorities, such as opposition to illegal immigration and abortion.
“I will vote for Mr. Trump, even if it means harming our company if he follows through on his words,” he said.
Mr. Chadwick’s disregard for President Trump’s views on tariffs is a sign of the contradictory impulses shaping American politics.
The Republican platform moves America, once a global champion of free trade, toward embracing policies aimed at protecting American businesses and jobs from foreign competition, despite the potential economic drawbacks. It was converted to
President Trump imposed tariffs on thousands of items from China during his first term, and President Joe Biden continued the measures despite criticizing them before entering the White House.
This year, Republicans put sweeping tariff plans at the center of their presidential campaign, calling such mandates “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”
He said the plan, which analysts say could restore average tariffs on imports to the highest levels in at least 50 years, would spur job creation, reinvigorate U.S. manufacturing and boost wages. They claim it will raise billions of dollars from other countries.
“We’re going to be a tariff country. It’s not going to be a cost to you, it’s going to be a cost to other countries,” he said on the road.
His arguments are rejected by most traditional economists, who argue that the policy would do little to increase U.S. jobs, raise the cost of living for Americans and slow growth around the world. .
Getty Images
Donald Trump started a trade war with China in 2018
In the United States, the Taxation Foundation projects that the tariffs will reduce overall employment by 684,000 jobs and shrink GDP by 0.8%, but this does not take into account the almost certain retaliation from other countries.
According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, costs will increase by at least $1,700 for the typical U.S. household, one of the lowest estimates.
Economist Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, called Trump’s pledge “ridiculous.” “This is not the panacea that people are hoping for.”
Despite the warnings, some polls show that Mr. Trump’s ideas resonate, with a September Reuters/Ipsos poll showing that 56% of likely voters approve of the Republican Party. It turns out that he supports the tariff plan.
Kyle Presa, 39, who voted for President Trump in Miami, Florida, didn’t think the tariffs would have as much of an impact as the candidate promised, but the Republican focus on the pitfalls of globalization does. He said it hit a nerve.
“People are outraged about this, and I think President Trump is at least addressing it,” he said.
He added: “Rather than deal with the current inflation situation and raise taxes from the left, we would probably choose to protect business and pay a little more through tariffs.”
Kyle Presa
Kyle Presa
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris attacked President Trump’s tariff expansion plan as a “national sales tax” and promised a more targeted approach.
But President Trump has said the money generated by tariffs could allow for significant tax cuts and has even floated the idea of eliminating income taxes altogether.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s decision to maintain President Trump’s tariffs on China and expand them on items such as electric vehicles also allowed Republicans to claim policy victories. .
Biden also approved other protectionist policies, including historic government spending to boost manufacturing in areas such as semiconductors and green energy.
Like Trump, he and Harris oppose a Japanese company’s takeover of US Steel on national security grounds, leading to a chill in the business world regarding foreign investment.
Michael Froman, former U.S. trade representative under President Barack Obama, said the U.S.’s reliance on measures such as tariffs and foreign investment restrictions “will probably continue.”
“There is certainly less enthusiasm for pursuing a so-called positive trade agenda in terms of liberalization, opening up and reducing barriers,” he said. “You have to realize that none of these policies are actually free. They all impose some kind of trade-off.”
“Tariffs aren’t helping bring jobs back.”
jusco
Jason Trice
Jason Trice, co-chief executive officer of Jusco, an Oklahoma-based lighting and electronics company that sells to major retailers such as Walmart, said his company’s experience shows the damage tariffs can do. spoke.
Since 2019, the company has paid hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tariffs while transforming its supply chain and moving much of its manufacturing from China to countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
He said the changes made the company less efficient and increased costs by about 10 to 15 percent, which was passed on to retailers and ultimately drove up prices and contributed to inflation.
All of this has taken a toll on his business, with revenue down 25% since 2020 and employee numbers dropping from 500 to 350 due to layoffs.
“In 50 years of business, the Chinese government has done nothing to hurt our business as much as the Trump administration has done. Tariffs have not helped bring jobs back to the United States. It has hurt American businesses and businesses,” Trice said. Employment opportunities have decreased. ”
lucerne international
Mary Buchzeiger (center) and the Lucerne International Warehouse team
Lucerne International, a Michigan-based auto parts supplier that has been manufacturing in China for decades, has also spent the last few years adapting to the new climate.
With the help of government incentives, the company is currently working on opening its first factory in its home state in 2026, with plans expected to create more than 300 jobs over four years. .
But while the project may sound like the kind of successful “reshoring” that politicians of both parties are hoping for, CEO Mary Buchzeiger, a longtime Republican, said the United States was wrong to try to “build a wall” against its country. rivals.
“I don’t think tariffs are a long-term solution,” she said.
“All we’re going to do is continue to lose our competitiveness on a global scale.”
Michelle Fleury contributed to this report
North American correspondent Anthony Zurcher covers the race for the White House in his twice-weekly U.S. Elections Unspin newsletter. UK readers can sign up here. People outside the UK can sign up here.
