RE: How the misconception of one man drives the world economy into the sand

Tariffs are normal tools of economic policy that have been used to protect national interests and as a tool of statecraft for 1000s of years. Old is not bad. There are more important things than cheaper trinkets.

The removal of widespread tariffs led to countries like the US (and Europe) exporting whole industries and masses of jobs to low wage countries.

While globalisation has led to cheaper consumer goods it has had these major negatives that outweigh this benefit:

The US and Europe have been deindustrialised and have partly (US) or wholly (Europe) lost the ability to wage large scale industrial warfare. Once the USA was "the arsenel of The West", no longer. The US & Europe combined can't much even Russia's weapon's production, let alone China.
It has impoverished the lower and middle classes (particularly men) who used to have well respected, satisfying and well paid jobs making things. Things cost less but most people have less money. Only the rich benefit from globalisation.
It has removed an important tool of statecraft to reward allies and punish adversaries.
It has allowed a globalist parasie class to take over countries and undermine democracy and freedom across The West.
It has allowed China to develop into a strategic competitor to the USA.

Thanks a lot for your comment!

As you mention correctly, tariffs are a useful tool to protect certain strategic sectors in an economy. The dismantling of the tariffs was done over several decades to lead to the economical situation that we have now with worldwide supply chains.

To put limits to globalization is in my opinion not bad since it's true that it had a lot of undesirable effects on the western world. The problems I see are the following:

The introduction of Tariffs should be targeted at precise sectors that are of national interests and that don't add negative effects on the whole economy.
Appling tariffs on the most interwoven economies is pure poison for the companies involved. It will hit the economy first, the housing market second and finally the currency as well.
Appling Tariffs with the belief that it will make the country rich is equally an illusion. It might be true in the long term but how long would it take to make the transition? Will the country and the government outlast the transition or will there be an opposition in place that pushes the moves back? A billion dollar plant can't be built in a week. Companies need time to adapt and the incertitude will simply prevent companies from investing. Not all the companies have pockets deep enough to outlast such a change.