We'll be the ones paying tariffs' cost

I am not an economist or an expert in international trade, but I do have some basic knowledge of how increased costs lead to increased sale prices.

I understand that the goal of President Donald Trump’s tariffs is to make American companies consider opening manufacturing plants in this country instead of manufacturing their products in foreign countries [“Trump’s China tariff deadline,” News, April 8].

Why do American companies produce their products in foreign countries? Cheaper manufacturing costs that result in cheaper prices to customers which increases consumption.

If the cost of manufacturing in foreign countries becomes more expensive through tariffs, U.S. companies have two choices: They can either continue with foreign manufacturing and reduce their profit margin or raise prices with consumers paying the difference. Or they can build costly American plants that will take time, and we’ll be in the same position as before.

The bottom line: We consumers will pay higher prices for goods under Trump’s tariff experiment.

— Jim Kiernan, Holbrook

Donald Trump has taken a sledgehammer to our economy, wiping out about $6 trillion of our wealth (and counting), which will affect all Long Islanders, especially seniors whose retirement accounts have shriveled since Trump decreed his destructive tariffs.

More job losses are also on the horizon as people curtail their spending and businesses lose revenue despite having to raise prices.

— Richard J. Brenner, Miller Place

The world community outside this country must form exclusive free trade zones to counter Donald Trump’s onerous and puzzling tariff policies. The World Bank defines free trade zones as fenced-in, duty-free areas with considerations for developing countries. It is past time that other nations caged Trump’s instincts in the absence of reasonable trade policy.

— Clifford D. Glass, East Rockaway