I think the theory behind all the tariffs is that if we make it harder for outsider countries to penetrate US markets, that will incentivize American businesses to build factories.

That I get.

What I don’t get is why this all has to get done overnight.  American companies can’t build and staff factories overnight.  This is going to take time.

Why not tell everyone two years in advance the tariffs are coming, and that Step One Tariffs (10%) will start in a year and Step Two Tariffs (another 25%) will start in two years?

That would give companies — and countries — time to adjust.

It doesn’t make much sense to alienate our best and friendliest trading partners. Nor does it make sense to send the stock market into a nose dive.

Is Trump causing all this pain “just because he can”?  Or is it because he thrives on chaos and all the attention it brings him?

I think most Americans don’t understand the strategy here.  The president and his underlings need to do a much better job explaining all this.