And he either fundamentally misunderstands tariffs or - what is more likely - he knows that Rube Nation doesn't understand them, so it doesn't matter what he says about them.
Protectionism is bad. Full stop.
Demonizing other countries and blaming them for our problems is even worse. The Chinese have not caused our manufacturing base to shrink, for example.
Populists on the right blame all our problems on foreigners (just as populists on the left blame the rich).