When a tariff is placed on foreign goods it makes them more expensive for consumers. This levels the playing field for American companies whose products, while usually far better, are more expensive. Increasing the price of foreign products allows American products to be competitive. This in fact levels the playing field as I said in the post you quoted. Being an expert on tariffs you should know this.
Your scenario again ignores many things including::
1-you assume tariffs are only being placed on matching items-they are not, in fact the vast majority of tariffs are being placed on items not made in the US so your comments do not apply;
2-you also assume when the tariffs are on matching prices, the American prices are always higher than the foreign ones and need competitive help from government intervention to control pricing which interestingly is a concept called socialism or communism;
3-further to 2, the American companies being protected by tariffs are large monopolies trying to prevent competition from start up businesses-the tariffs work as follows:
1-the American company producing the item sells them for 5.00
2-the tariff placed on the foreign matching item is say $2.00 meaning the foreign item is now 7.00
3-the American company now increases its price to 6.50 and goudges American consumers 1.50 being able to use the tariff as a cover to increase its prices
4-so in fact the US government enables American companies to goudge you and also the government taxes you
5-fledging companies now trying to start up can't compete with the already existing American companies using that increase in price to buy out any supplies preventing fledging American companies from being able to by those supplies crushing internal cometition and in fact fixing prices for a set group of elite monopolies.
The above scenario has been explained over and over even by the few pro tariff economists there are. They warn it may have limited use only if the sector where the tariffs are imposed only has fledging businesses that need help during their start up phase to avoid being put out of business by foreign producers.
Now interestingly the US goes into other countries and crushes competition buying out all its competitors. How does it do this The very trade imbalances you claim, puts money in those countries' banks. The US then with its higher currency borrows money at favourable lower rates from those banls to then buy up all the competitors in that country. The so called trade imbalance has been used by the US to obtain cheap foreign loans to buy out all the companies they compete with in those foreign countries.
In your simplistic sript you have no clue how international financing works let alone how trade imbalances simply mean the US is being able to expland its businesses overseas to crush foreign competitors through favourable interest loans from foreign banks thanks to those imbalances. More to the point, the natural resources causing those imbalances are not available in the US and when the US receives them, it refines them passing on their cost back on the consumer of their finalized product.
The tariff script uou repeat is a sham. It is a cover for a tax increase on the middle and lower classes to fund the record high spending Trump has earmarked in his big beautiful bill and you lap it up.
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