I know a big Trump thing is to not reveal your strategies. Evidently, this is because you give the opposition time to prepare. Strategies are to be revealed through the actions taken.
Evidently, one super secret negotiation strategy when it comes to goods flowing between countries is to threaten a trade war. You pay for the wall or we will charge you to bring goods into our country.
I have a fairly basic understanding of international trade. It seems to me you bring in foreign goods when you cannot produce the goods yourself or the foreign goods are less expensive. So, if you introduce a surcharge doesn’t that mean consumers end up paying more for goods you cannot produce and more for the goods produced internally. It seems to me it might be less complicated to just raise our own tax on what we purchase. Wouldn’t this amount to the same thing and not irritate neighbors who would find ways to charge our producers and those who want to spend money in other countries.