Appreciation post for the retired teacher who made me rethink tariffs

Had breakfast at the diner on Main Street yesterday and this old history teacher spent 15 minutes explaining how Trump's trade policies actually helped small manufacturers in Ohio, and now I'm not so sure my whole 'tariffs are always bad' take was right - anyone else have a conversation that flipped their view on something?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler1761mo ago

Totally mispronounced "tariff" for like three years so I just avoid the word now.

harperwright1mo ago

Saying you avoided a word for three years because you mispronounced it is a little extreme, @tyler176. I once said "chipotle" wrong for like a year before someone finally corrected me at a party. But hey, at least now you know it's "tare-iff" and not "turr-iff" or whatever you were doing.

blake30221h ago

My trick is to just say it slow and own it. If you mess up once, people remember it forever so I started practicing tough words out loud in the car alone. Tariffs is one of those words where the double R throws everyone off especially if you read it before hearing it. The old history teacher at your diner sounds like a gem, most folks just yell past each other about trade policy without stopping to think. Did he mention any specific Ohio towns that actually saw factories come back or was it more of a general picture?