Good time to kick a hornet’s nest?
I’d like Walter to outline just exactly how to save those jobs. I’d really like to know.
I saw the same thing first-hand with the tariff on Canadian softwood lumber back in 2001-03. All it did was drive up the price of lumber for U.S. contractors, and drive up the price of new homes here in the U.S.
Good example of ideological nonsense rather than economic science. Easy to put down fair trade when one ignores the other side of so called free trade. We have lost millions of jobs, all those wages, profits, taxes to overseas because we ignorantly insist on free trade when it is only free on our side. Trump is setting up for a negotiation stance to remove tariffs and other impediments to American business. He cannot do that with the stupid type negotiations we have done in the past, he has to use leverage. Everyone understands this, except of course those blind ideologues who don’t have a clue about what they are talking about. Sorry assed article to post that is anti American and just plain ignorant.
I think the issue is also tied to production cost in the US. Higher tariffs are, in and of themselves, depending on their severity, problematic and cause real economic distortion. (example: The Bahamas has a really screwed up economy because of the extremely high import tariffs)
That said a slight rise in tariffs AND cost control measures such as reducing corporate taxation in the US plus perhaps a national right to work law to reduce excessive union demands might reduce imports and stimulate domestic production.
To the best of my knowledge the Bush raise in steel tariffs did not also include a reduction in corporate taxes
not seeing how he made his point here....
The cost accounting stops too early. The targeted tariff is too narrow. The USA became a colussus with a wide trade policy - not with only applying to lumber made from only Maine based fir 2x6 boards. You’ve seen how China has become a colussus with it now too. Ricardo or Bastiat shoukd come down from heaven and strangle off this mis-application of dogmatic free trade.
China’s currency devaluation has the same effect of tariffs on foreign goods coming into the country while the goods leaving the country are artificially cheaper for export. We don’t want to put tariffs on Chinese goods, China doesn’t want tariffs, and, we may not need to use tariffs to improve American trading status with China. The credible threat of tariffs may be enough. I think there is a fallacy in assuming that we have one of two options, tariffs or no tariffs. There may be a third option the threat of tariffs.
I’d like to discuss how “horrible” the USA was from 1789 to 1913 when FedGov’s main source of income was tariffs. Imagine no income taxes! You’d keep ALL of your earnings, must have been really “bad”. What a f’ed up country why we went from an agrarian country to industrial power house. Must have been luck I guess.
At least the venerable Mr. Williams didn’t try to re-write history and tell us Smoot-Hawley caused the Great Depression.
Those were aimed at higher quality imports from Europe. Stupid and shows you need to pick your battles carefully. The best way to impose tariffs is to pick things like Chinese drywall with arsenic it.
When I was in the service I swore to defend the Constitution and my fellow Americans with my life.
I would surely bare the "burden" of 2% a year wage inflation if my fellow Americans had jobs and were working towards prosperity.
Plus Asian made products are mostly cheap crap of poor quality.
I’m a little skeptical on the need for all these “Free Trade” agreements. If I want to buy coffee from Juan Valdez That should be between him and I. The governmental morass of these treaties seems to only complicate these transactions.
Ping
That the author would even consider this thought is very telling.....
So in other words, we are going to make a bunch of guesses that are unverifiable with any data, that just happen to validate our theory.
Trade Economics bump for later...
I understand from economics that tariffs increase the price of goods. But they usually do not discuss the effect on economics of a trade deficit.
Frankly I would rather pay more for autos- if the profit and labor was in the US and help the cost of living.
This wouldn’t even have to be considered if our own government didn’t regulate and tax businesses so vigorously that they had to leave the country to remain in business.