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May 15, 2025 12 mins
Today I’m going to talk about trade and tariffs in a way that even a 5 year old can understand if.

Now I know, that probably sounds dry. But if you stick around, I promise you’ll end this episode knowing more about trade and the global economy than most politicians—and certainly more than the President of the United States. And I’m not even trying to be edgy with that. It’s just… true.

Here’s the reality: A trade surplus or trade deficit is just the difference between what a country exports and what it imports. That’s it. It’s not a win-or-lose scoreboard. It’s not a sign of national strength or weakness. It’s an accounting detail. A symptom—not a diagnosis.

And cutting off trade with another country? That doesn’t “save” us money. It doesn’t “bring back jobs.” What it actually does is shrink the economy. It limits product availability. It raises prices for everything from cars to cornflakes. It triggers inflation. It makes everyone poorer. Period.

This isn’t new information. We’ve known it for a long time. And if you need proof, let’s roll the tape back to one of the dumbest trade blunders in U.S. history: the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of the 1930s.

Congress—bless their hearts—thought slapping tariffs on imported goods would protect American farmers and manufacturers during the Great Depression. Instead, what happened? Other countries retaliated. Exports plummeted by over 60%. Trade collapsed. Jobs vanished. The global economy cratered even further.

Now here’s the fun part: if that name—Smoot-Hawley—rings a bell, maybe you remember it from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Yeah. A teen comedy from 1986 explained it better than most modern politicians.

Ben Stein, in his iconic deadpan role as the economics teacher, delivers this legendary scene:

“In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the… uh… anyone? Anyone?… the Great Depression, passed the… anyone?… Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which… anyone?… raised or lowered?… raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue. Did it work?… Anyone?… It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression.”

It’s played for laughs—but it’s also spot-on. It didn’t work. And yet, nearly a century later, we’ve got people pushing the exact same crap with new branding.

Fast forward to the U.S.-China trade war under Trump. We jacked up tariffs on Chinese goods. China retaliated—hard—by targeting U.S. agriculture. Soybeans. Pork. Wheat. Farmers across the Midwest got wrecked. Prices dropped. Exports dried up.

So what did we do? We bailed them out with tens of billions of taxpayer dollars. Let that sink in.

The government caused the problem, then used your money to patch over the hole they blew in the boat. That’s not economic strategy—that’s political arson followed by very expensive fire trucks.

And this isn’t just a U.S. issue. Let’s look globally.

In 2010, Japan got into a diplomatic spat with China. As leverage, they restricted exports of rare earth minerals—critical materials used in smartphones, electric vehicles, wind turbines, even missiles.

The result? Panic. Supply chains trembled. Prices exploded. The entire tech and manufacturing sector around the world felt the aftershocks. It was a reminder: global trade isn’t just about profit—it’s about stability.

Or take Russia in 2022, cutting off natural gas supplies to Europe in response to sanctions over Ukraine. What happened? Prices for electricity and heating fuel in countries like Germany and Italy soared—by over 500% in some cases. Factories shut down. Steel, fertilizer, aluminum production—all scaled back or halted. Inflation soared. Food prices, rent, basic goods—everything went up.

Because when trade breaks, everything breaks.

There are a million more examples.

And every time, it’s the same story. Politicians sell you a fairy tale about protecting the economy, about bringing jobs home, about “America First” or whatever slogan they’re workshopping this week.

But in reality? You get screwed.

You pay more at the grocery store. You pay more for fuel. You lose job opportunities. You live in an economy that’s slower, more expensive, and less competitive. That’s the price of economic ignorance.

Trade isn’t some abstract Wall Street concept. It’s what keeps your shelves stocked, your bills manageable, and your paycheck worth something.

Trade supports competition. That’s what keeps prices low. It drives innovation. That’s what keeps companies from getting lazy. It creates connections. That’s what builds resilience in times of crisis.

Cutting it off doesn’t “protect” us—it isolates us. It weakens us. It leaves us more vulnerable.

And who pays? You do. Every ti
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello there, Welcome back into another episode of The Brett
Mason Show. I'm the afore mentioned Brett Mason today taking
another deep dive into politics, more specifically the economy, and
more specifically international trade tariffs. I know this probably sounds boring,

(00:22):
but look, if you'll stick around, I promise by the
end of this episode, you'll know more about trade and
tariffs and the global economy than most politicians know, certainly
more than our beloved orange face President of the United
States knows. And I'm not even trying to be sarcastic
about that. I mean, I'm just kind of being accurate.
So let's jump into it. So here's the reality a

(00:45):
trade surplus or a trade deficit. It's just a difference
between what a country exports and what it imports. That's it.
It's not a win or lose scoreboard. It's not a
sign of national strength or weakness. It's a simple accounting detail.
It's a symptom of what's happening. It's not a diagnosis
of a problem. And when you cut off trade with

(01:06):
another country, that doesn't save us money, it doesn't bring
back jobs. What it actually does is shrink the economy.
It limits product availability. It raises prices for everything from
cars to corn flakes. It triggers inflation. It makes everybody poorer. Period.
This isn't new information. We've known this for the longest time.

(01:28):
And if you need proof, look, we can go all
the way back to one of the dumbest tariff acts ever,
all the way back to the nineteen thirties, the Smooth
Hawley Tariff Act. No Congress came up with this brilliant idea,
much like our current president, that's slapping a bunch of tariffs,
high tariffs on imported goods would protect American farmers and

(01:49):
American manufacturers and help us recover from the Great Depression.
What actually happened, other countries retaliated from the United States
to other countries, plummeted by sixty percent. Our trade collapsed,
jobs started to vanish, the global economy started a creator,
and of course the Great Depression just got worse and worse.

(02:12):
Now you might be thinking, I think I've heard Smoot
Holly before. Smooth Holly terrifact Ferris Bueller's Day Off, anyone
one of my favorite movies from all time, all the
back nineteen eighty six. There was a scene in there
where ben Stein, who's one of the greatest dead pan

(02:32):
comics of all time, was playing the role of a
teacher teaching politics. And he's in front of the class,
and I'm going to do my best ben Stein impersonation.
Forgive me if I mess it up. I don't have
the rights to use the actual clip. In nineteen thirty,
the Republican controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to

(02:55):
alleviate the effects of the Anyone, Anyone the Great Depression past,
the Anyone smoot Hally Terrriff Act, which anyone raised or
lowered raised tariffs in an effort to collect more revenue.
Did it work? Anyone? It did not work, and the

(03:18):
United States sank deeper into the Great Depression. One of
my favorite parts of that film. There's a million great
parts of that film. As a matter of fact, when
I finished recording this episode of The Pot I may
go watch it. Look that was funny. That same was funny.
Nothing funny about these crazy retaliatory terrifts. They just don't work.

(03:41):
We can just simply refer to the United States China
trade war under Trump, where we started jacking up tariffs
on Chinese goods and China very specifically retaliated by targeting
US agriculture. Soy beans are pork, are wheat, and instantly
farmers across the Midwest just got wrecked. What kinds of
problems happened. We had to start looking for farmer bailouts

(04:03):
and all this type stuff just to try to save
the farming industry. It's ridiculous. So we bailed them out.
There was this build and close tens of billions of dollars,
probably going to be a lot more. I mean, we're
just getting started. All this is just beginning. But the
government caused that problem, they used it, and then they

(04:24):
took our tax money to put a patch or with
the whole that they blow off in the boat. Now,
it's not a good economic strategy. It's certainly not saving
any of US money. It's just causing more and more taxes,
which is causing more and more debt, which just causing
more of the problems that they claim that they're trying
to fix. So, look, this isn't just a United States issue.

(04:48):
This is a global thing, right, So if you look
back to twenty ten, Japan got into one of these
spats with China and they decided to restrict exports of
their rare earth minerals, coronical minerals that were used and
making things like smartphones and electric vehicles and wind turbines
and even missiles. Really, what happened? Pandemonium? Panic, Supply chains

(05:10):
just shut down in disarray, Prices exploded, The tech and
manufacturing sector all around the world felt the aftershocks. I mean,
it was a crazy time. I'm old, I remember it.
I remember it well, and so as is a reminder. Look,
global trade isn't just about profit. It's about stability, it's

(05:30):
about relationships, it's about expanding trade. It's all the things
that they say. It isn't all the things that they
want to tell you is bad. Isn't true. Just recently
twenty twenty two, Russia cutting off natural gas supplies to
Europe in response to the sanctions that they were getting
over Ukraine. Well what happened. Prices for electricity and heating

(05:51):
fuel in Germany and Italy and stuff stored by over
five hundred percent. Can you imagine? Could you imagine playing
five times what you pay for heat in the winter,
because it's already bad. I don't know about you, but
my summer bill is usually around one hundred dollars now, yeah,

(06:12):
kind of by myself. My house is not that huge.
In the winter, it goes up to around two hundred dollars.
That means if something like this happened right now, that
would put my and mine are small compared to some
I've seen, but my average two hundred dollars winter bill
would be a thousand. The same thing. That's when you

(06:34):
cut people off, you cut trade off, you get into
these wars with people. It extended even further though. Factories
started shutting down, the still fertilizer, aluminum production, all of
it had to be scaled back and haulted. The inflation
started soaring. Food prices went up, rent prices up, the
basic goods of everything prices through the roof. When trade
breaks down, everything breaks down. We don't live in an

(06:58):
economy that is is related to a city or a
village or a town, or a state or a country anymore.
That's not how the economy works anymore. There's millions of examples,
but every time it's the same story. This is the
thing we know. We have history on our side. We
don't have to guess at this. We don't have to
trust the ill advised words of our current president of

(07:22):
the United States, millions of examples. Every time it's the
same story. These politicians, they get these whims about everything.
It's a fairy tale. It's always about quote unquote, protecting
the economy, about bringing jobs home, about making America first.
It's a slogan. It's something you can put on your
bumper or your car. It makes you feel good, but

(07:42):
you're just getting screwed every time they do it. And
this terrifor is no different. More at the grocery store,
more for gas, less jobs, the economy's going to slow down,
everything more expensive. That's the price of this nonsense. And
it's not going to get better. It's not going to

(08:04):
get better. It's only going to get worse. Now. When
you think about trade, it's like a kind of a
vague generic concept, but it's not some abstract Wall Street
concept of something. It's what keeps the shelves stock, it's
what keeps bills manageable. It's what keeps paychecks coming in.
It's what keeps factories open. It is what innovates business.

(08:25):
Every year, hundreds and hundreds of businesses decide to start
building stuff and selling it, and the components and the
items that they use to build those things right here
in America and sell are imported from other countries. It's
a good thing, this trade. It supports competition. That's what
keeps prices low. It drives innovation. Competition, that's what keeps

(08:46):
companies from getting lazy. It creates connections, It expands growth,
It expands opportunity for everybody. It builds resilience in times
of crisis. Look, cutting off trade with other countries and
getting these trade wars doesn't protect us. It isolates us.
It puts us on an island by ourselves. It weakens us.

(09:06):
It shrinks the economy, it shrinks opportunities. It leaves us
more vulnerable to everything, literally everything, Yes, even national security
is threatened. Now, who's paying for all this? Like they
got all the big words? Trump says, all these I
got the best words. I can't do it trum impersonation.
But you know I got the biggest words. I know

(09:29):
all the best words. Yeah, he's got a lot of words.
He's got a lot of words. But he's not the body.
He's not the one paying for it. These billionaires, he's
got twelve of them in his cabinet, they're not paying
for it. The lobbyists that are up there angling they're
not paying for it. You're paying for it. I'm paying

(09:52):
for it. We're the one footing the bill. These five
dollars eggs, they're still five dollars. By the way, I
saw somebody post on social media today that they're done
below two dollars. Not where I went and shopped for eggs,
they weren't. We're the ones paying for it. We're the
ones who factories left and aren't coming back. They're never
coming back. By the way, if you think factories are

(10:12):
coming back, they're not ever, ever, ever coming back. Americans
will not build things for the price that the Japanese
and the Koreans and you know these other countries will
will do it. We just won't. Those jobs aren't ever
coming back. Why would you even want them back. They're

(10:34):
low paying, low skilled jobs. We have such better jobs
here with much better pay. They get said, it's ridiculous
to want to bring something back like that. It makes
no sense. So what you're going to choose, You want
to go to war and have overprizzed groceries, car with

(10:54):
parts you can't afford to buy to fix, much less
buy a new one. Look trade is not a zero
sum game. It's not about dominance. It's about growth. It's
about mutual growth between different countries. And if the people
in charge don't understand that, they want to just posture
and learn this the hard way. Trump is making us

(11:16):
all due. You know, maybe it's time to wise up.
Maybe it's time to stop playing the fool. How many
times will we allow not just Trump, but especially Trump,
but not just Trump. How many times will we allow
them to play us for a fool? Look, if you

(11:37):
learn something from this episode, I appreciate you subscribing. Maybe
you want to share it. I appreciate you being here.
That's my goal. Sometimes I get off in the weeds,
sometimes get a little bit I don't know too sarcastic,
But I just like to I like to talk about
things that are true to me, things that are true,

(11:59):
And I'm talking about things that are objectively true, things
that are objectively true. We've lost our way, We've lost
our way on objective truth. Like we can't even agree
anymore what objective truth is. I'm gonna talk about subjective truth.
I'm talking about objective truth in the United States of America.
We can't even agree on that anymore. And we have

(12:20):
to just pull back and go, you know what, all right,
There's things I don't like, things I do like, whatever,
but I draw the line at objective truth. I'm not
gonna buy into a lie. I'm not gonna perpetuate a lie.
I'm not gonna come a cheerleader for a lie. I'm
not gonna support people that lie. I'm gonna call people

(12:40):
out that lie, no matter if they're my guy or not.
We don't even have that anymore. We don't have that anymore.
Thanks for being here. Appreciate you joining me for another episode.
We'll talk to you next time. Until then,
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