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Donald Luskin argues that tariffs are “inherently small tax hikes because tariffs only apply to, at most, a base of $3.257 trillion—the total value of goods and services the U.S. imports annually” (“How Much Do Tariffs Matter?,” op-ed, Jan. 29).

Yet they apply more widely than that. Tariffs make cars and housing more expensive, for example, even when they are made with American steel. When President Trump raised steel tariffs in 2018, Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel raised their prices, too, largely because they could get away with it. Reducing competition is the point of many tariffs.

This does, however, reinforce Mr. Luskin’s argument that tariffs are poor revenue raisers. Governments collect only a fraction of the higher prices that consumers pay thanks to tariffs. Much of the rest is corporate welfare.