The company I retired from makes half of its sales internationally. What do you think will happen to them if tariffs are imposed on their customer's products?
Your idea is just the sort of government interference that will create an economic mess.
Which industries will you protect and by how much and for how long?
There have been a few cases of predatory practices by foreign companies and action was probably justified. But in general it will not be productive to use the power of government to decide that somebody inside our borders should be able to conduct a business but that people outside should not.
I would be curious to hear what level of tariffs you think would be needed and what the results would be. How much increase in US government revenue, taking into account the decline in US businesses that deal overseas. What final level of international trade will result. Will trade be off by 50%. What third world countries will be affected and how? Will their people then starve?
I wonder what the tariffs on US goods being imported into the Soviet Union looked like just prior to their collapse? Aren't they an example of trying to lock out foreign goods in order to assure full employment? Wasn't their government intimately involved in exactly how much every product sold for?
After the fall of the Soviet Union, I remember a key incident, I believe in the Ukraine. Farmers there were being forced to sell their products locally at artificially low prices. The farmers refused to sell.
Fortunately, the authorities opted for freedom over government control. The locals had to pay the going price. Consequently, the reward for being a farmer increased, and there was incresed incentive to grow even more. Government action should be a last resort.
>Which industries will you protect and by how much and for how long? <
Those absolutely essential for defense. Not in my wildest dreams can I imagine countries hostile to us selling these to us in time of war.
You need to look into tear-down prices. When electronics are put on the consumer market at a lower cost than their component parts, something is not quite right.
The ugly truth is this country could not fight a prolonged war of any magnitude. We have wonderful technology--as long as foreigners will sell us the parts.
I know tariffs are a dirty word. I'm also fairly sure that I will not live to see people locked in a factory in this country working 15 hour days to make cheap goods. But some of you maylive to be glad when your grandchildren can wrangle such plums.