Thanks for sharing your views. In the latest article in this series, “Could America Have Avoided a Trade War?,” I have mentioned that in my next and final post for this topic, I will focus on:

“1. understanding trade deficits and how they can be addressed,

2. examining the role played by the U.S. trade deficit, and

3. what the big deal is regarding China and its trade practices.”

I will certainly consider the points you mentioned regarding China while writing that article.

Regarding protectionism tariffs and revenue generating tariffs, I feel that this author here explains it really well:

“The problem with all of these disputes — tariffs as a tax versus tariffs as a boost to domestic industry — is that there is no fundamental difference between one or the other. It is true that a bill may be worded to reveal an intended purpose for either revenue-raising or industry protection, and politicians will advocate for a bill on such arguments as well. It’s likely that these intentions are sincere. But nonetheless, there remains no real economic difference between a revenue tariff and a protectionist one.

It almost seems too obvious to merit saying, but recent debates illustrate the necessity of sometimes stating the obvious: the economic effects of a tariff are independent of the intentions of the bill… But all tariffs, regardless of their respective purposes, have the same effects.” — Source

Further, I would like to point out that while this article was inspired by the Trump Administration’s imposition of tariffs, it has also been written with the view to explain the economic theory behind topics that keep popping up in the news so that readers can better understand technical concepts. Where I have used examples, I have explicitly mentioned that they are just that — examples.