This is certainly an interesting take. For an import-heavy economy, it's really not far-fetched to speculate on this being the strategy in play.
That said, when you say that the cost of tarrifs are spread across the entire supply chain, it suggests that the cost is evenly distributed, which I honestly doubt is the case.
It's very unlikely that anyone other than end-users bare the most costs either directly or indirectly, so the real concern here would be how long consumers will have to endure the pain of these policies before the system comes close to being favorable.