Economy

And early 1900s.But we did have huge undeveloped area with huge amounts of resources.

Tariffs are not an automatic trade killer. Many countries in the EU have tariffs. They use their VAT taxes in very similar ways to tariffs. When a product is exported out of the country, the VAT is removed. When a product is imported into the country the VAT is added. Adding a tax to imports is the very definition of tariffs.

But with VATs it is better controlled and based on actual costs. It's not arbitrarily added because their president is angry at the foreign country for not providing a big enough bribe.

If pedo Trump had been smarter, or if the idiots who wrote the 2025 plan had half a brain, they would have instituted a VAT tax, or at least called it something else.

Aside from that I agree with everything else you said.