Quote:
Originally Posted by fast4522
there will never be a better time in history to correct trades issues like now.
|
The only trade issues that need to be corrected are over-regulation and tariffs. Trump claims to be a free trader, but he is not even close to being one. He is either lying or delusional. He is a protectionist, a nationalist, and a mercantilist.
From the great economist Walter Williams:
Quote:
|
Let's delve a bit into the politics of trade tariffs. Whom do we see spending the most resources lobbying for tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum? Is it American users of steel and aluminum, such as Harley-Davidson and John Deere? Or is it United States Steel Corp. and Alcoa? Of course it's U.S. Steel and Alcoa. They benefit from tariffs by being able to sell their products at higher prices. Harley-Davidson and John Deere lose by having to pay higher prices for their inputs, steel and aluminum, and their customers lose by having to pay higher product prices.
|
That's called cronyism. Trump protects his fat cat buddies at the expense of the American consumer.
Williams goes on to explain the real trade issues that need to be corrected:
Quote:
|
There's a lot of nonsense talk about international trade, which some define as one country's trading with another. When an American purchases a Mercedes, it does not represent the U.S. Congress' trading with the German Bundestag. It represents an American citizen's engaging in peaceable, voluntary exchange, through intermediaries, with a German auto producer. When voluntary exchange occurs, it means that both parties are better off in their own estimation -- not Trump's estimation or General Motors' estimation. I'd like to hear the moral case for third-party interference with such an exchange.
|
In short, we would all be better off if Trump and his cronies kept their noses our of our wallets.
If anyone can objectively respond to the above without blindly spouting slogans like MAGA, it would be a welcome change.
https://townhall.com/columnists/walt...-foot-n2498527
