A businessman from Vancouver, Wash., posed a question Wednesday to the former U.S. Trade Representative under then-President Barack Obama and to the former chief of staff for President Donald Trump: How do tariffs help me?

Nathaniel Dick, the vice president of TigerStop, a manufacturer with about 50 employees, said his costs for electronics have doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a current 25% tariff on aluminum and steel, his actual costs for those products have gone up 38% and 46%, respectively.

“As a local American manufacturer, I would love it if someone would be able to explain to me how an increase in labor costs, and now an increase in electronics and a significant increase in my raw material costs, makes me or other local manufacturers more competitive on a global or lo

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