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The customer and taxpayers are generally the same people here.

So, knock on effects can dwarf direct effects. Tax foreign computer components at some insane rate and perhaps you get a domestic market but you could also see companies start moving their US data centers to Canada and Mexico. Which then has it’s own economic disadvantages.

But not exactly the same people which is the point of motivating behavior. There is at least some degree of flexibility in what you can buy.

Insane rates will of course have insane effects. Which is a separate issue.

> Because when you subsidize, the taxpayer is paying for it. You are socializing the costs and privatizing the profits.

I think that's a really good point. It's extracting money from consumers through taxes and handing them to industry in the hopes they innovate.

Tariffs though. In that case you're extracting the money from the consumer (through the international organizations being taxed) and giving the profits to the government. What are they going to do with it?

Who pays for the tariffs if not the taxpayer?