Donald Trump has declared, more than once, that he
would raise tariffs on goods that originate from China, Mexico and Japan. However, I can only recall one time in a
debate where the candidates actually discussed this important issue. I could be wrong, but I don’t believe I am. The moderators who conduct these debates are
more interested in gotcha questions than issues that have a profound effect
upon our lives.
Walter E.
Williams, a renowned economist, wrote an op-ed on the unseen cost, high tariffs
have on the economy. He uses an example during
President George W. Bush’s administration when tariffs on steel were raised by
as much as 30%. Here is an excerpt.
It is estimated that
the steel tariffs caused at least 4,500 job losses in no fewer than 16 states,
with over 19,000 jobs lost in California, 16,000 in Texas and about 10,000 each
in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. In other words, industries that use steel were
forced to pay higher prices, causing them to have to raise prices on what they
produced. As a result, they became less competitive in both domestic and
international markets and thus had to lay off workers.
Tariff policy beneficiaries are always seen, but its victims are mostly unseen. Politicians love this. The reason is simple. The beneficiaries know for whom to cast their ballots and to whom to give campaign contributions. Most often, the victims do not know whom to blame for their calamity.
The Bush
administration repealed these tariffs the following year under threat of a
trade war with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Brazil. President Bush declared his policies were a
success. Others would disagree.
Wouldn’t it be nice
if we had a substantive debate on issues that really matter, instead of
advocacy journalism that’s designed to spotlight the “brilliance” of
moderators?
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