POTUS has said, out loud, repeatedly, that he wants to raise enough revenue with tariffs, to repeal the income tax. I take him at his word, on that issue.

Well, not everyone speaks the truth all the time.

Personally I think it's a mix of two things. First, a decades-long stupendous misunderstanding of trade. And, more recently and more to the point, just a way to exert personal power over non-US entities. There was never any intent to levy the "reciprocal" tariffs announced last year - that was just a set of numbers purposefully chosen so high as to be unsupportable internationally OR domestically, purely so counterparties would kowtow and promise tribute.

For the misunderstanding, the key point is the simplest: if you buy $100 worth of widgets from country X, you have not lost $100. You do get some widgets in return! And therefore country X has not stolen $100 from you. Allegedly there are some subtleties to trade theory beyond this, but Mr T seems not to have made it even that far.

Jim