[Toddsterpatriot]

"Suppose that, for whatever reason, Japan decided to subsidize steel very heavily. If no additional tariffs or quotas were imposed, imports of steel into the United States would go up sharply. That would drive down the price of steel in the United States and force steel producers to cut their output, causing unemployment in the steel industry. On the other hand, products made of steel could be purchased more cheaply. Buyers of such products would have extra money to spend on other things. The demand for other items would go up, as would employment in enterprises producing those items. Of course, it would take time to absorb the now unemployed steelworkers. However, to balance that effect, workers in other industries who had been unemployed would find jobs available. There need be no net loss of employment, and there would be a gain in output because workers no longer needed to produce steel would be available to produce something else."

Though the Friedmans admit that unfair trade practices of other nations hurt us, they show that they hurt the offending nations as well. But more to the point, if we retaliate, we just harm ourselves more, not to mention prompting additional retaliation from other nations.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/davidlimbaugh/dl20020309.shtml

David Limbaugh quoting Milton and Rose Friedman. What do you think Willie? How are they wrong?

[Willie Green]

David Limbaugh quoting Milton and Rose Friedman. What do you think Willie? How are they wrong?

It's a great way to undermine our national security that was unavailable to Tojo.

[Whilom]

Sounds plausible but it doesn't address one area of my concerns. If we permit other nations to subsidize their steel industries and take a rising share of our market to the extent that our domestic production declines, even ceases, don't we put ourselves into a situation analagous to our dependence on foreign petroleum? If our suppliers cut off the supplies, then what? Contrarily, it seems to be more prudent to reduce our dependence on the foreign supply of vital strategic goods -- steel among them. Perhaps the same argument wouldn't work for widgets, since we can become dependent on foreign-manufactured widgets without inviting an economic, geo-political squeeze from the supplier or suppliers.