12-22-2016, 11:13 PM
(12-22-2016, 02:43 AM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(12-21-2016, 07:54 AM)Odin Wrote: I was just reading yesterday that the Smoot-Hartley tariff cut US exports by 40% right when the US economy was going into the ditch. We are due for another recession right now, if Trump wants to own-goal the US economy by starting a trade war with China he's going to be as reviled as Hoover.
I'm a bit of a "protectionist" myself, but for me "protectionism" means negotiating fairer trade agreements rather than the hamfisted nationalist idiocy Trump is promoting that is about as stupid as the Smoot-Hartley tariff.
Tariffs are established to protect American based industries/businesses and the jobs associated with them. What happens to locally based American business that can't compete within the American market or industry that's flooded by cheap foreign competitors that manufacture cheaper goods? The business shuts down and never comes back again like what happened in the small town that my parents grew up in. The exports were down because American industries/business who are unable to compete here aren't going to be able to compete else where.
What we saw in the 1970s was that without the spur of international competition, US industries became inefficient and their products dropped in quality while increasing in price. That's how the Japanese got a foothold in our auto market, of which they own a substantial fraction now. In the medium to long run, you need competition to maintain your edge.