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Given Trump’s constant, absurd lying about who actually pays tariffs, the normally benign shorthand “imposed tariffs on [COUNTRY X]” should probably be ditched. He’s threatening tariffs on Americans who buy Mexican goods. latimes.com/politics/la-na…
I say “normally benign” on the theory that most readers would normally get that “a tariff on Mexico” is shorthand for “a tax paid by American buyers of Mexican products,,” but that may be too optimistic. Maybe Trump gets away with lying because many were already fuzzy on this.
Which may be a more general cautionary tale for reporters: Don’t assume “everybody knows” what figures of speech & shorthand expressions mean just because everyone *who follows the topic closely* does.
