Watching guests on Jake Tapper argue about tariffs this morning, I remarked to my GF that they were both right.

Yes, the cost is passed on to the american consumer, just like taxes or environmental regulation costs. All costs are passed on to the consumer.

But let's take a hypothetical example from my past. Say I am importing certain products from mexico, and the average shipment comes to $40K. Now a 25% tariff is passed, and the price of my shipment comes to $50K. My customer passes the cost on to his customer, and so on down to the ultimate consumer of the goods. True, but this is where the liberal commentators stop with their analysis. But the process continues after that cutoff.

What happens after that, is that my customer looks for cheaper sources, and finds a company in Arkansas that will supply the same stuff for $43K. Before he was losing to my $40K, now he is beating my $50K. The customer switches to the cheaper local provider. Good news for the Americans. Bad news for the Mexicans

Now substitute China for Mexico in the example.

Bottom line, the foreign provider loses the business, the domestic provider gets it.

You need to follow the dominoes to the end.