CAFTA-DR hits constitutional snags

Ag Weekly ^ | jamuary 11 , 2006 | Cathy Roemer

[hedgetrimmer]

The business wouldn't be there if the tariff hadn't have been in place.

[hedgetrimmer]

Kittenfestival says Reagan was a "free trader". The World banks says he wasn't. So whats your point?

[1rudeboy]

The point is that the article you cited in order to claim that Reagan, who proposed NAFTA during his first presidential campaign, was a protectionist is an article arguing that he wasn't a free-trader enough. Furthermore, the World Bank hasn't taken a position on the matter.

[hedgetrimmer]

The point is that the article you cited in order to claim that Reagan, who proposed NAFTA during his first presidential campaign, was a protectionist

Excuse me mr. 'I attended law school', but I didn't make a claim anywhere. I just copied some text.

You're really reaching.

[1rudeboy]

Main Entry: ¹claim
Pronunciation: 'klAm
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French clamer, from Latin clamare to cry out, shout; akin to Latin calare to call -- more at LOW
1 a : to ask for especially as a right <claimed the inheritance> b : to call for : REQUIRE <this matter claims our attention> c : TAKE 16b <the accident claimed her life>
2 : to take as the rightful owner <went to claim their bags at the station>
3 a : to assert in the face of possible contradiction : MAINTAIN <claimed that he'd been cheated> b : to claim to have <organization...which claims 11,000...members -- Rolling Stone> c : to assert to be rightfully one's own <claimed responsibility for the attack>
synonym see DEMAND
- claim·able /'klA-m&-b&l/ adjective

_____

I refer you to definition 3 a. If you object to my choice of that word, then pick another one. If you choose to insist that you "just copied some text," fair enough. It's not often that someone admits that they bring nothing to the conversation.

[hedgetrimmer]

It's not often that someone admits that they bring nothing to the conversation.

Considering I wasn't even addressing you,you find ways to insult just the same. Is your philosophy so bankrupt that this is the only tack you can take?

No wait, YOU'RE not bankrupt, if you are a "free trader".

"I'm millions richer in just a few short years."
--General Jiang Zemin

[1rudeboy]

I'll tell you of bankrupt philosophy. It is one that cites to sources that are at odds with the "claim" you are making, or one that runs for the cover of mental opacity when the above is pointed out.

Whatever your case is today, here's more for you to chew on:

While [Reagan was] president, he declared in 1986: "Our trade policy rests firmly on the foundation of free and open markets. I recognize ... the inescapable conclusion that all of history has taught: The freer the flow of world trade, the stronger the tides of human progress and peace among nations."

It was the Reagan administration that launched the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations in 1986 that lowered global tariffs and created the World Trade Organization. It was his administration that won approval of the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement in 1988. That agreement soon expanded to include Mexico in what became the North American Free Trade Agreement, realizing a vision that Reagan first articulated in the 1980 campaign. It was Reagan who vetoed protectionist textile quota bills in 1985 and 1988.

During Reagan's eight years in office, Americans eagerly expanded their engagement in the global economy. In 1980, the year before Reagan became president, Americans spent a total of $334 billion on imported goods and services and payments on foreign investment in the United States. By 1988, his last year in office, American spending in the global economy had nearly doubled, to $663 billion. If Reagan was a "protectionist," it had no discernable effect on the ability of Americans to spend freely in the global marketplace. Fittingly, one of the major federal buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue is named the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

Like most post-war presidents, Reagan championed free trade while selectively deviating from it. Critics of trade note correctly that Reagan negotiated "voluntary" import quotas for steel and Japanese cars and imposed Section 201 tariffs on imported motorcycles to protect Harley-Davidson. All true. But those were the exceptions and not the rule. They were tactical retreats designed to defuse rising protectionists pressures in Congress.

Bear in mind that the Democrats controlled Congress before you go off on another tangent.

[1rudeboy]

Oh, and here's the link to my source. Whatever you have, it's contagious.

[hedgetrimmer]

I remind you, I haven't made any claims. You are stretching and streching that point, for whatever reason. Now why don't you go spend saturday night with your family.

[hedgetrimmer]

MEMORANDUM FOR THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

SUBJECT: Motorcycle Import Relief Determination

Pursuant to Section 202 (b) (1) of the Trade Act of 1974
(P.L. 93-618, 88 Stat. 1978), I have determined the action I
will take with respect to the report of the United States
International Trade Commission (USITC), transmitted to me on
February 1, 1983, concerning the results of its investigation
of a petition for import relief filed by the Harley-Davidson
Motor Co., Inc., and Harley-Davidson York, Inc., producers of
heavyweight motorcycles, provided for in item 692.50 of the
Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) .


After considering all relevant aspects of the case, including
those set forth in Section 202(c) of the Trade Act of 1974, I
have determined that granting import relief is consistent with
our national economic interest. Therefore, I will proclaim
the USITC five-year import relief remedy with one modification.
I will impose tariff increases of 45 percent ad valorem in the
first year, declining to 35, 20, 15 and 10 percent above
scheduled rates in subsequent years. Imposition cf these
tariff increases should allow the heavyweight motorcycle
industry to adjust to the threat of injury caused by increased
imports, which have raised inventories to twice their normal
level.

To assure small volume producers who have not contributed to
that threat of injury continued access to U.S. markets for
heavyweight motorcycles, I will modify the USITC remedy by
proclaiming tariff-rate quotas of 5,000 units (increasing
yearly to 6,000, 7,00C, 8,500 and 10,000) for imports of
motorcycles manufactured in the Federal Republic of Germany,
and 4,000 units (increasing yearly by 1,000) for imports from
all other countries except Japan. The additional duties will
apply to all imports above the tariff-rate quotas. In order
to treat Japan fairly I will also proclaim a tariff-rate quota
of 6,000 units (increasing 1,000 yearly) for motorcycles
imported from Japan.



I also direct you to keep the issue under close review so
that, should the U.S. motorcycle industry no longer need this
level of relief, you may, in consultation with the Trade
Policy Committee, obtain other necessary advice and propose
changes in the terms of relief. If no earlier review is
initiated by such conditions, you are to undertake such a
review in two years. The objectives of this review would be
to assess the effectiveness of import relief and
Harley-Davidson's trade adjustment efforts.

--Ronald Reagan

[Paul Ross]

Even the steel industry is hurt because artificially high prices stimulate the search for alternative materials.

Give us a break.

Clearly the U.S. "steel industry" was NOT hurt by any such things.

Quite the contrary. Often the metallurgical firms have broad production interests, and steel and aluminum are conjointly held. Kaiser Aluminum and Steel was one such example.

This was a mere rhetorical argument...with no substance.

[1rudeboy]

Exchange the word "theoretical" for "rhetorical" with regard to the steel industry and I'll agree. On the other hand, the substitution effect is an economic maxim. I'm not sure that's what you mean, however.

[Toddsterpatriot]

The World Bank estimates that import restrictions in 1984 had the same effect as a 66% income tax surcharge on Amer­ica's poorest citizens.

You want to reduce taxes on poor Americans? You greedy socialist bastard!!