The asian economic uplift was powered by exports, not by reducing imports. Tariffs were the exact opposite of what they wanted as they were reliant on exporting

The asian economic uplift was powered by exports, not by reducing imports. Tariffs were the exact opposite of what they wanted as they were reliant on exporting their cheap labor and a trade war makes that much harder. Latin american countries made the mistake of trying to build an economy by reducing imports through tariffs, as we can see it did not work.