this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026
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Left leaning people want taxes, to fund social programs, to go to the poor. Would they be okay with tariffs if it was a left leaning government, looking to do more than tax cuts for the rich, or are tariffs always bad?
The broadness and extreme level of tariffs are the bigger issue than tariffs exisiting. Canada has various tariffs in place to help protect certain industries. I also think people's dissatisfaction runs deeper than the tariffs when it comes to Trump.
Tariffs are a tax on residents of the tariffing country, essentially the same as a flat income tax increase on the whole population (i.e. a regressive tax curve, which is deeply un-leftist)
How's that different than all taxes, aren't all taxed passed onto the end user?
Of course, but income tax is progressive (rates get higher with income) whereas tariffs result in a flat increase which disproportionately affects the poor because it represents a higher percentage of their income.
Let's take cars, for example. If steel tariffs mean that a car costs $500 more than it did before tariffs, that $500 has a far bigger impact on someone who makes $40k a year versus someone who makes $200k. That $500 is borne in full by residents of the country that imposed tariffs, which is why tariffs really only penalize your own people in addition to whatever industry of your trade partners you're targeting.