China is rapidly moving away from coal, they also have the most super-critical coal generators (trump's "clean coal" that has never materialized). America is unlikely to build another coal plant. Solar and wind are now cheaper, coal does not have the expected lifetime to pay back the the upfront costs of a new generator. It's unclear who has worse energy policies for climate change, but it is no longer China (even though they are still the largest burner of coal, that is rapidly changing and their direction is clear)

Are there any instance where tariffs left the people of the country in a better place?

> Is it worse to have our goods cost more

Apparently for Americans it is worse, that's why we continue to buy cheap stuff from Amazon and Walmart. Cost of living / affordability is the #1 issue for more than a decade now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...