No one’s saying tariffs are the final answer. They’re the signal that the game has changed. They announce to the world: the U.S. is no longer going to subsidize your growth at the expense of ours. In any negotiation, you start by showing what happens if the other side doesn’t move. That’s leverage. That’s phase one.
The goal is never tariffs forever. The goal is better deals. Stronger terms. Respect at the table. If the media really wanted solutions, they’d stop crying wolf and start asking the right question: what happens when we do nothing?