General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFor those who don't remember, Thom Hartmann and others were big advocates of tarriffs as the means
to keep American jobs.
Though history, and the acceleration of great depression should have been lessons enough why that is bad policy, perhaps the actions of Trump in regard to tarriffs will provide the reason why tarriffs and trade wars are not a good thing.
We are a world economy.
What is happening with GM, Ford, farmers, etc. is a perfect example of the consequences of this.
Yes, there are issues with unfair trade, but those should be dealt with through negotiations, not starting trade wars by implementing tarriffs. Make no mistake about it, we started this trade war with the belief that we would bring China to its knees.
Up to now that hasn't worked very well, and what will happen with the upcoming G20 meeting remains to be seen, but this policy has not only been directed against China, but our European allies as well.
and this is just the beginning. The effects of the tarriffs are just starting to be felt. They haven't "trickled" down to the job market here, but from all apperances, unless the brakes are put on this, that will start to accelerate
We will see
FSogol
(45,357 posts)Some companies (the one's favored by Trump's mis-administration) get them and others do not. They are picking and choosing winners and probably getting kickbacks or "donations" all while lining their pockets.
still_one
(91,962 posts)FSogol
(45,357 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)and the chance of war, among many other benefits.
It's not perfect, of course, but even in the founding of our own country the framers understood that allowing, say, NJ and NY to erect barriers was a bad idea. The European Union has been stumbling through the process of applying this to an entire continent.
We have the WTO, trading blocs, treaties, and other means to attempt to regulate world trade-- tariffs, if used at all, should be used sparingly.