My Take On Trump Tariffs

After his election win in 2024, all of us well know that Donald Trump has been really going at it with his strict and radical tariff policies against almost every single country in the world, including our closest allies.

And normally, I'm not the type of person to focus on politics so much, as I usually find it as just a distraction to my work. In fact, I always felt that no President in our country can ever have a direct influence on my business as a trainer. Whatever decisions they will make, I know that the economy can go up or down, and I just need to focus on my work so that I will always keep my business up, regardless of the circumstances.

However, in this current state of affairs, I can truly see how this President today can make unprecedented changes to the economy that can now really affect the way many people make choices about hiring a personal trainer. I also feel for the first time that our sitting US President today will definitely have a direct influence on my business, as people start to think twice about paying the extra cost of keeping their fitness investment with the drastic and uncertain changes happening to our economy. But according to Trump, if we wait it out long enough, his decisions will help us. And this country will start to thrive. Still for me personally, whether I trust his decisions will make my business and other businesses more successful in the long run is a more important question.

As both a trainer who helps improve the lives of so many people in Los Angeles, and someone who worked very hard to build his business from almost nothing, there is one major problem I see in Donald Trump's vision with the tariffs. One of the primary objectives behind the President's implementation of significant tariffs is to encourage the return of manufacturing jobs to the United States. This strategy is part of his broader "America First" economic policy, which aims to reduce reliance on foreign manufacturing and bolster domestic production. I can in fact sympathize with the President, hearing the horrible stories of massive lay-offs and not just factories but also entire cities shutting down in this country because manufacturing jobs started to become outsourced to other countries.

But the irony is to me that those who lost those jobs and who suffered the economic hardships of being unemployed should have actually saw such losses as greater opportunities for their future. Rather than keeping their minds on how unfairly life treated them, or the fear of never finding work, or the rising costs of inflation, etc. they should have built their own destiny towards greater living regardless of how they've been treated. Their thoughts and mind should have been the center of their potential for success, not the economic forces that went against them.

Trump is currently reinforcing such negative behavior by enforcing these tariffs. He may think he is liberating us from the countries who treated us unfairly and he will protect us from such injustices. But to me, he is only encouraging people to not think more innovatively, keeping people reliant on jobs that give them real no advancement to the upward movement of human civilization, and trying to make people feel comfortable where they are while others around the world will strive to grow and make our economies even more resilient for the future.

The real meat of my argument stems from my discovery of thought. If you've been following me closely, you will know what I mean by the power of our thinking. Trump must learn to help liberate the minds of America, not keep them stagnant. He can only help this country remain as "America First" for the next few generations at the very least, if he will stop with his notion that he can provide back our lost "jobs." This country will only grow to become more lost if he continues this path of protectionism.

Awaken this country from their pessimistic minds, Donald Trump. Liberate us to the true prosperity this nation promises.

I urge you to stop with the tariffs.