Same deal in Australia. We had tariff walls up until the early 1990's. The trajectory of the economy was plainly obvious it triggering a speech by the then tr

Same deal in Australia. We had tariff walls up until the early 1990's. The trajectory of the economy was plainly obvious it triggering a speech by the then treasurer saying Australia was at risk of becoming a "banana republic". They then went about a wholesale re-arrangement of Australia's economy. They did a lot of things, but the major one was tearing down the tariffs. During the re-arrangement a lot of people lost their jobs, and it triggered a major recession. It was a painful time. But that was the last recession we had. It's been 30 years of growth thereafter. I suspect the younger Australians have forgotten the lesson, but it the word "tariff" still frightens my generation. In the USA, you have no one who has lived through tariff's for near a century (Smoot-Hawley in 1930). The economists and academics will be advising anyone who would listen what the effect of rasing tariff walls would be, and it seems like the USA politic did a reasonable job of listening to them for the last 40 years or so. But now the current mob running the place got there by championing not listening to elites. It's time to re-learn the lesson, I guess.