WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has identified what he sees as an all-purpose fix for what ails America: Slap huge new tariffs on foreign goods entering the United States. On Monday, Trump sent shockwaves across the nation's northern and southern borders, vowing sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, as well as China, as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs. In a pair of posts on his Truth Social site Trump railed against an influx of immigrants lacking permanent legal status, even though southern border apprehensions have been hovering near four-year lows. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders. He said the new tariffs would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” The president-elect asserts that tariffs — basically import taxes — will create more factory jobs, shrink the federal deficit, lower food prices and allow the government to subsidize childcare. Economists are generally skeptical, considering tariffs to be a mostly inefficient way for governments to raise money. They are especially alarmed by Trump’s latest proposed tariffs. Carl B. Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi, economists with High Frequency Economics said Tuesday that energy, automobiles and food supplies will be particularly hit hard. “Imposing tariffs on trade flows into the United States without first preparing alternative sources for the goods and services affected will raise the price of imported items at once," Weinberg and Farooqi wrote. "Since many of these goods are consumer goods, households will be made poorer.” High Frequency Economics believes the threats are not meant to support new trade policy and are instead a tool to elicit some changes along the borders and for imports from Canada, Mexico and China. Though Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Trump’s tariff threats as unserious during her failed bid for the presidency, the Biden-Harris administration retained the taxes the Trump administration imposed on $360 billion in Chinese goods. And it imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. Indeed, the United States in recent years has gradually retreated from its post-World War II role of promoting global free trade and lower tariffs. That shift has been a response to the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, widely attributed to unfettered trade and an increasingly aggressive China. Tariffs are a tax on imports They are typically charged as a percentage of the price a buyer pays a foreign seller. In the United States, tariffs are collected by Customs and Border Protection agents at 328 ports of entry across the country. The tariff rates range from passenger cars (2.5%) to golf shoes (6%). Tariffs can be lower for countries with which the United States has trade agreements. For example, most goods can move among the United States, Mexico and Canada tariff-free because of Trump’s US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. There's much misinformation about who actually pays tariffs Trump insists that tariffs are paid for by foreign countries. In fact, its is importers — American companies — that pay tariffs, and the money goes to U.S. Treasury. Those companies, in turn, typically pass their higher costs on to their customers in the form of higher prices. That's why economists say consumers usually end up footing the bill for tariffs. Still, tariffs can hurt foreign countries by making their products pricier and harder to sell abroad. Yang Zhou, an economist at Shanghai’s Fudan University, concluded in a study that Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods inflicted more than three times as much damage to the Chinese economy as they did to the U.S. economy Tariffs are intended mainly to protect domestic industries By raising the price of imports, tariffs can protect home-grown manufacturers. They may also serve to punish foreign countries for committing unfair trade practices, like subsidizing their exporters or dumping products at unfairly low prices. Before the federal income tax was established in 1913, tariffs were a major revenue driver for the government. From 1790 to 1860, tariffs accounted for 90% of federal revenue, according to Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College economist who has studied the history of trade policy. Tariffs fell out of favor as global trade grew after World War II. The government needed vastly bigger revenue streams to finance its operations. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the government is expected to collect $81.4 billion in tariffs and fees. That's a trifle next to the $2.5 trillion that's expected to come from individual income taxes and the $1.7 trillion from Social Security and Medicare taxes. Still, Trump wants to enact a budget policy that resembles what was in place in the 19th century. He has argued that tariffs on farm imports could lower food prices by aiding America’s farmers. In fact, tariffs on imported food products would almost certainly send grocery prices up by reducing choices for consumers and competition for American producers. Tariffs can also be used to pressure other countries on issues that may or may not be related to trade. In 2019, for example, Trump used the threat of tariffs as leverage to persuade Mexico to crack down on waves of Central American migrants crossing Mexican territory on their way to the United States. Trump even sees tariffs as a way to prevent wars. “I can do it with a phone call,’’ he said at an August rally in North Carolina. If another country tries to start a war, he said he’d issue a threat: “We’re going to charge you 100% tariffs. And all of a sudden, the president or prime minister or dictator or whoever the hell is running the country says to me, ‘Sir, we won’t go to war.’ ” Economists generally consider tariffs self-defeating Tariffs raise costs for companies and consumers that rely on imports. They're also likely to provoke retaliation. The European Union, for example, punched back against Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum by taxing U.S. products, from bourbon to Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Likewise, China responded to Trump’s trade war by slapping tariffs on American goods, including soybeans and pork in a calculated drive to hurt his supporters in farm country. A study by economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Zurich, Harvard and the World Bank concluded that Trump’s tariffs failed to restore jobs to the American heartland. The tariffs “neither raised nor lowered U.S. employment’’ where they were supposed to protect jobs, the study found. Despite Trump’s 2018 taxes on imported steel, for example, the number of jobs at U.S. steel plants barely budged: They remained right around 140,000. By comparison, Walmart alone employs 1.6 million people in the United States. Worse, the retaliatory taxes imposed by China and other nations on U.S. goods had “negative employment impacts,’’ especially for farmers, the study found. These retaliatory tariffs were only partly offset by billions in government aid that Trump doled out to farmers. The Trump tariffs also damaged companies that relied on targeted imports. If Trump’s trade war fizzled as policy, though, it succeeded as politics. The study found that support for Trump and Republican congressional candidates rose in areas most exposed to the import tariffs — the industrial Midwest and manufacturing-heavy Southern states like North Carolina and Tennessee.Countless cables are used in the home — whether for charging smartphones, transferring data, or connecting audio systems. However, frequent use and regular bending can quickly lead to unsightly kinks or even damage to sensitive areas. Caution is advised in the event of serious damage, such as a broken or exposed cable core: Repairs in such cases should be left to experienced users. For non-experts, replacing the cable is usually the safer option. In other cases, however, anyone can attempt an uncomplicated repair: If the cables are only kinked or the sheath is broken, damaged household cables can be quickly repaired. Find out here how you can easily repair kinked or broken cables — and even repair-damaged cable cores (conductors). Repairing kinked cables: This is how it works Bent or kinked cables are a typical occurrence in the home, and sometimes such cables are delivered completely bent: When manufacturers severely compress or twist them in the packaging for space reasons. If such kinks do not disappear on their own and cannot be straightened, there is a simple trick to help: the heat trick. Plastic cables are thermoplastic. This means that the warmer they are, the easier they are to bend and move. In winter, you can therefore simply place bent cable sections on a warm radiator for a few minutes and then carefully straighten the bent section with your hands; the process can also be repeated several times if the cable is severely bent. : Always disconnect the cable from connected devices or the socket beforehand and allow it to cool down after the process. Alternatively, kinked cable sections (if not directly on the plug) can also be heated in a hot water bath and then smoothed by hand. However, this method requires special care: The plugs must never get wet and there is a risk of water ingress if the cable sheaths are porous. Make sure that the plugs remain dry — and remember to disconnect the cable from the power supply beforehand. Both methods work best if you heat the cable to around 50 to 60 degrees Celsius. You should avoid higher temperatures. Repairing a broken cable: Depending on the damage, only for experienced hobbyists After the kink often comes the break, at least in cable management. A distinction must be made between two levels of damage: If only the sheath is broken, then the repair is child’s play and can be done quickly. However, if the cable core, i.e. the cable inside, is also damaged, it is a little more complicated. We only recommend such repairs to users with some experience. Headphone, audio, or charging cables can also be repaired inexpensively. If the cables of larger household appliances such as vacuums or lawnmowers break, laymen should not attempt to repair them and should leave the repair to specialized personnel. How to repair a broken cable sheath With older cables or cables that are used frequently (such as charging cables), it is often the case that the cable sheaths become cracked or break open completely. As long as the actual conductor inside remains undamaged, the problem can be quickly solved with some insulating tape. Such special tapes only cost a few dollars, and you can also find offers for them at the end of this article. The damaged area can be easily repaired by wrapping two to three layers of insulating tape around it — and the cable is ready for use again. Tighten the insulating tape slightly when wrapping to seal the damaged area more tightly and ensure better adhesion. Alternatively, heat-shrink tubing (see below) is suitable for sealing open cable sheaths quickly and reliably. Repair the cable core in just a few steps If cables from low-current devices (up to 50 volts) break, you can also try to repair them at home. Proceed as follows: : As a first step, pull the cable plug out of the connected appliance or power source. : Now locate the damaged area — in most cases the break is obvious. : You can then use a wire stripper or cable cutter (see below) to cut the damaged area out of the cable. If necessary, you can also use a cutter knife. Try to work evenly and cut the cable cleanly. : Strip the two new ends of the cable to a length of about one centimeter. The wire stripper is perfect for this. : Now reconnect the separated cable. This works best with crimping pliers, but you can also twist the conductors together by hand and wrap them with insulating tape. Heat-shrink tubing is a particularly clean and safe way to do this. If you do not have this equipment in stock, you will find suitable purchase recommendations at the end of the article. Prevent cable breakage or kinking with simple tricks Annoying cable breaks or kinks in sensitive areas can be avoided with a simple trick. The weak point is usually at the transition to the plug — exactly where the fixed plug joins the flexible cable. The load is particularly high at this point, which is why damage often occurs here sooner or later. To prevent this, you can reinforce the area, which is easy to do with some insulating tape. Simply wrap two to three layers of tape over a length of two to three cm of the cable sheath at the sensitive point. The cable end then remains flexible, but no longer bends so much under load that you have to fear a cable break. : Instead of tape, you can also use the nib of a biro at this point. To do this, simply open an old biros, pull the nib off the lead, and wind it over the sensitive end of the cable. Useful equipment for cable repair With these tools, you can make broken cables functional and safe to use again in no time at all or reinforce sensitive areas. Insulating tape black PVC 19mm x 20m Erko Price: $1 Stretchy, thick, and flexible to use: A roll of insulating tape belongs in every household. This inexpensive tool reliably and securely seals open cables and is helpful or even necessary for many of the repairs described in this article. You can find the tape in a variety of colors and also a narrower version measuring just 15 × 10mm. Stanley FatMax automatic wire stripper and cutter Stanley Price: $39 Powerful tool for working with cables: This multi-tool can strip cables (0.2 to 6 mm2) or cut them cleanly. Cable conduits can be quickly and easily pulled from the conductor core (stripped) so that the ends can then be reconnected and re-insulated. The robust pliers are well made and offer a secure, non-slip grip. Someline crimping pliers cable connector set Someline Price: $17 Crimping pliers are the best tool for reconnecting exposed and separated cable cores. With this practical tool, you can press cable sleeves firmly and securely onto the open cable points, ensuring that the new insulation holds reliably. The package already includes three different butt connectors for different conductor cross-sections. After crimping, you can shrink the cable sleeves with a heat source (such as a lighter) so that they adhere inseparably to the cable. Heat-shrink tubing set with various sizes, 580 pieces Amazon Price: $7 Heat-shrink tubing in all standard sizes can be used to seal damaged cable sheaths or safely insulate newly connected cable ends. To do this, simply pull the appropriate heat-shrink tubing over the affected area of the cable. When heated, the material shrinks and adheres firmly and inseparably to the cable sheath. A heat gun is best suited for heating, but if you are careful, you can also simply use a lighter. This article originally appeared on our sister publication and was translated and localized from German. Steffen Zellfelder is a freelance graduate journalist from Bonn. As an experienced software expert, he is particularly enthusiastic about apps, tools and future trends.
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