This past week President Trump announced new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to protect American steel workers from supposedly “unfair†foreign competition. The tariff rate of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum would impact all major steel exporters, particularly Canada and Mexico.
President Trump argues this will help their bargaining position when it comes to trade talks, such as possible renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The media, progressives and Democrats have been quick to pounce, pointing out these will lead to higher prices on goods, invite retaliation from trading partners, and ultimately job losses not gains. And you know what, they’re right! Economist Robert Crandall found that restraints on car imports during the 1980s cost consumers the equivalent of $300,000 per job protected in the form of higher car prices. Other research suggests protecting steel workers through tariffs amounts to a whopping $750,000 per job protected.
Yet the entire US economy is based on “tariffs†the left seem now so upset about: taxes, subsidies and regulation that undermines market competition and consumer welfare. What do they plan to do with the tariff economy they themselves helped create?
https://www.redstate.com/diary/HeartlandInstitute/2018/03/08/left-critical-trump-steel-tariffs%E2%80%94does-mean-theyll-scrap-tariff-economy-helped-create/
