Right-wing media said we needed Trump’s tariffs to compete with China — but they’re helping China and hurting US manufacturing

When President Donald Trump unveiled his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs on most countries in the world in April, many of his supporters in right-wing media cited the need to compete against China and rebuild American manufacturing as justification. Months later, reporting shows that Trump’s tariffs have backfired, as even some conservatives warned they would, and are hurting American manufacturing and efforts to move manufacturing out of China.