What I am leaning toward, is some national tax on imports.
So that American production is treated equally.
This will also incidentally, provide an income stream for paying our government. We are 17 trillion dollars in debt.
That is just a proposal mind you, I am completely open to other ideas.
Have you looked into how inflationary that would be?
I am in the t-shirt printing industry. Most of the blank shirts we purchase are made overseas. Most of the big American companies like Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, etc., no longer manufacture here in the US. You can buy shirts made here, but they are considerably more expensive.
One of my vendors offers white t-shirts, made overseas, for $1.30 per shirt. The same white t-shirt, made in the USA, wholesales for $3.00 each. I can barely sell white printed t-shirts for $6 each in quantity. To keep my margin, I would have to sell white t-shirts in quantity for $9 each!
As long as unions have a stranglehold on manufacturing jobs in this country, we will not be competitive. I have been told that an entry level job in a textile manufacturer is $15 an hour and full benefits. The unions have got the pay they wanted, just much fewer actual jobs to pay that wage.