Personally, I think the markets are overreacting to the tariffs. It's the free market purists having a hissy fit. I am a free market believer myself, but I am also a realist. There are no free markets, and if you are the only country pushing free market purism, then you are stupid.
Almost every other country has some kind of worker protection laws designed to benefit their domestic workforce. Only the US sells out its work for to the rest of the world. Some countries have strict law requiring foreign companies to hire local workers. Some prevent foreign ownership of businesses. Others, which are many, impose tariffs on imported goods and materials. None of this is free market behavior.
US tariffs on imports are long overdue. It makes no sense that we imports so many brands of foreign cars, for example, while other countries impose restrictive tariffs on US cars imported into their countries.
I think we would all agree that no tariffs is the best policy. But that is a pipe dream.
I don't love what Trump's announcement is doing to my stock portfolio, but hopefully over the next couple of years things return to normal and my investments recover.
