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Originally Posted by Parkview_Pirate
Trade is a complex issue, and free trade is pretty much a myth.
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Trade is not a complex issue. The bottom line is that it is a voluntary transaction between a buyer and a seller, both of whom are satisfied with the outcome.
What is complex is a third party, government, inserting itself into the process because in its infinite wisdom, the government is not satisfied with the outcome.
A letter from a professor of economics at George Mason University, published in the Washington Post, sums up our current situation.
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Robert J. Samuelson is correct that President Trump’s trade war will not end with a U.S. victory [“We’re going to lose this trade war,” op-ed, June 25]. But the reason runs deeper than Mr. Trump’s misguided focus on the trade deficit and his antagonizing our allies. The ultimate reason we will not win this trade war is that Mr. Trump is waging it against us. Mr. Trump’s tariffs are designed to make goods and services — including inputs for U.S. factories — not only artificially scarcer for us today but also scarcer for us into the indefinite future. The guiding philosophy of this administration’s trade policy is unalloyed mercantilism, which has among its core goals the maximization of exports and the minimization of imports. And so what Trump regards as a “victorious” outcome of his trade belligerence — his objective in waging this insane “war” — is a global trading system in which Americans, year after year after year, export more and import less. Foreigners will get more of what we produce, and we will get less of what they produce. An American “victory,” therefore, will result in non-Americans being artificially enriched at our expense. This war is one that we Americans should fervently hope to “lose.”
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https://cafehayek.com/
For those who get a tingle down their legs with the thought of fewer imports, remember that you can make that personal decision for yourself right now. Just don't presume to force your decision on others.
And if Trump's campaign people were correct in saying that his tariffs would increase the cost of living by 15%, that means that without those imports, you will be able to buy only 85% of the products you currently buy.
Yes, true free trade is harder and harder to find. But why make the situation even worse? Why not focus on fixing the real problem?
