A neighbor in the south threatened to add a 25% tax on products from the north. This tax would be payed by those in the south. The neighbor in the north retaliates with the same strategy which is a 25% tax on Canadians who buy products from the south. Then the neighbor in the south withdraws the tax leaving the north in the bad position of raising the tax on the north.
Then the southern neighbor decides to eliminate their health care system forcing Doctors to go it alone. Many will be looking for jobs in the north and move there.
The North reacted by imposing tariffs (a hidden tax) that voters won’t like.
However, there is a hidden opportunity here. The North could use the tax to hire doctors from the South to fill the North’s doctor shortage. Voters might like that.
The upside of the tariffs is that they force people to buy local because of the cost. When doing that, it is important to be careful the tariffs target stuff you don’t need and have the correct political effect. You will need AI to help figure out a surgical strategy that puts the pressure in the right spots.
For example, here is a complication. Suppose you want to target red and not blue. If you target a blue state with red companies, you can hurt the blue workers working for red companies. If you target red states with blue companies, you can hurt the blue companies. So, look deeper when planning responses. It is hard to shake all the bad apples out of the tree without some good ones falling as well.