Trump's tariffs are already paying off
Bottom Line: It's an odd place for a free-market capitalist to finds one's self. Typically, the notion of tariffs are counter to free-markets and rarely have proven to be in the economic interests of the country issuing them. Simply, tariffs are economic protectionism. The flip side of the argument is that the playing field has become so uneven in countries like China, that it's a leveling of the economic playing field. I'm not willing to embrace that premise entirely but we're seeing that the United States is about to benefit from the President's recently announced 30% tariff on Asian solar panels and dish washing machines.
One of the largest solar manufacture's, China's Jinko Solar, has announced that they're going to open a manufacturing plant in the United States. Better still, it's coming to Florida. Following a vote by Jinko's board to open a US facility, the company announced it's going to invest $410 million to build a solar plant in Jacksonville. The plant will employee 800 to start and will pay average salaries of $46,000.
It's unclear if this will become part of a larger trend with impacted companies but you have to hand it to the President. He didn't build a multi-national, multi-billion dollar empire by being an economic idiot. Many wondered why the tariffs were so specific, only targeting solar panels and washing machines... It's becoming clear that it was based on information that those types of companies would be willing to bring manufacturing and jobs to the United States to avoid it. That, by the way, would be a stroke of economic genius - even if not consistent with general free-market principals.