Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

President Reagan on Tariffs
Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade ^ | April 25, 1987 | Preisdent Ronald Reagan

Posted on 03/18/2025 10:31:38 AM PDT by TBP

You see, at first, when someone says, 'Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,' it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works – but only for a short time. What eventually occurs is: First, homegrown industries start relying on government protection in the form of high tariffs. They stop competing and stop making the innovative management and technological changes they need to succeed in world markets. And then, while all this is going on, something even worse occurs. High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition. So, soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidize inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chat; concerntroll; concerntrolling; freetrade; markets; nevertrumpingtroll; reagan; rinos4desantis; rinosedition; tariffs; tds
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-157 next last
Excellent analysis of the long-term effects of tariffs.
1 posted on 03/18/2025 10:31:39 AM PDT by TBP
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: TBP

Every time you think you smell sh1t it’s just a Free Traitor.


2 posted on 03/18/2025 10:33:21 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wildcard_redneck

You didn’t bother reading President Reagan’s remarks on the subject, did you?

The long-term effects are bad.


3 posted on 03/18/2025 10:35:14 AM PDT by TBP (Decent people cannot fathom the amoral cruelty of the Democrat cult.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: TBP

What Reagan was saying is true. Unfortunately, other nations are the ones that put the high tariffs on our products. We’re just trying to have fair trade. They protect their interests, we have to protect ours.


4 posted on 03/18/2025 10:35:26 AM PDT by boycott
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: boycott

Exactly.


5 posted on 03/18/2025 10:36:27 AM PDT by kosciusko51
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: wildcard_redneck

Exactly! They’ll write an entire book about how you should let them make money - the only way they know how.

Tariffs are like the pedals in your car. You have to know how to use them.

America is the only world power that rents its market out like a teenage whore.


6 posted on 03/18/2025 10:38:50 AM PDT by Empire_of_Liberty
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: boycott

Exactly.

Tariffs are constituted to make commerce “regular” between nations.

Ignore irregular commerce and eventually you lose.


7 posted on 03/18/2025 10:39:09 AM PDT by crz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: TBP

Yes but if the other countries already have tariffs the we are the ones retaliating. So flip this script and work from there


8 posted on 03/18/2025 10:39:12 AM PDT by SquarePants (Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TBP

Yeah, this the same Reagan that put a tariff on motorcycles over 700cc? In the first year of a five-year program, tariffs rose from 4.4 percent to 49.4 percent on all large highway motorcycles.

That Reagan?


9 posted on 03/18/2025 10:39:35 AM PDT by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2025... RETURN OF THE JEDI...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DesertRhino

yeah amnesty reagan was hat eventually turned cali into the $&$&hole it is today.


10 posted on 03/18/2025 10:41:32 AM PDT by Strict9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: wildcard_redneck

Reagan is a traitor? Instead of name calling, the favorite tactic of the left, why don’t you try telling us what is wrong with what Reagan said?


11 posted on 03/18/2025 10:41:57 AM PDT by FreedomNotSafety
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: boycott

Right. The beauty of this is we’re going to see whose economic theory on tariffs is correct.


12 posted on 03/18/2025 10:42:34 AM PDT by HYPOCRACY (Long live The Great MAGA Kangz!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: DesertRhino

Tarriffs, taxes, spending, privileges, licenses, . . . .
They’re all tools in the tool box.
When is the best true to use which tool is the question.


13 posted on 03/18/2025 10:43:31 AM PDT by spintreebob (ki .h )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: TBP

Reagan is correct: tariffs are a bad long-term strategy. They do, however, have nearer-term utility in bringing foreign powers into a posture of negotiation on overall relations extending beyond just this or that industry.

To paint tariffs as a universal evil is just as wrong as painting them as a panacea. Like any other tool in the box, they have their appropriate use, and other tools ill serve the same purpose.


14 posted on 03/18/2025 10:44:26 AM PDT by HKMk23 (https://youtu.be/LTseTg48568)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TBP
Using tariffs America went from a meager colony on the edge of a world to the preeminent industrial power. It was t until the income tax came in to replace tariffs and control Americans that the rest of the world caught up to us.

Let me guess, you're in favor of the abusive, intrusive federal income tax.

15 posted on 03/18/2025 10:44:36 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TBP

What is your answer to Canada’s 250% tariff on dairy products from the US?

Free Trade?


16 posted on 03/18/2025 10:46:13 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (Do the math. L+G+B+T+Q = 66)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wildcard_redneck

President Reagan used tarrifs against Japan.


17 posted on 03/18/2025 10:46:17 AM PDT by cowboyusa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: TBP

And I guess he forgot that our nation was nearly solely funded by tariffs and excise taxes the first 125 years.

Love Reagan, but he wasn’t always correct. Also he was facing a significantly different world than today.

He woulda been utterly horrified that DC killed domestic manufacturing and sent it all to Mexico and Red China and that the EU he was keeping on the reservation has gone full authoritarian.

Reagan also wouldn’t have tolerated the massive tariffs other countries put on us, and them using end run sheep dips through Canada and Mexico to dodge ours.

But nice try to invoke the Gipper.


18 posted on 03/18/2025 10:46:50 AM PDT by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2025... RETURN OF THE JEDI...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FreedomNotSafety
Sorry bro, you wrong and it is making you look stupid.

U.S. Industrial Production Surges in February to Record Level, Led by Manufacturing and Autos
https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2025/03/18/u-s-industrial-production-surges-in-february-to-record-level-led-by-manufacturing-and-autos/

19 posted on 03/18/2025 10:47:25 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Strict9
yeah amnesty reagan was hat eventually turned cali into the $&$&hole it is today.

100%...Reagan blew it big with amnesty for millions of illegals..All that did was emboldened millions more to enter illegally.

20 posted on 03/18/2025 10:47:36 AM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-157 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson