RE: Trade Restrictions Don't Make Sense: Importers And Exporters Are The Same People
None of these issues are caused by free trade, but by regulations blocking or trying to manage trade. Arguments should be made to eliminate these barriers, not create new ones, and certainly not to tax consumers and firms that use imported materials.
My core argument is that opponents of free trade never consider all of the jobs trade creates, which vastly outnumber those lost to competition.
There are a ton of bad policies that hurt our economy and kill jobs ...we should be focusing on eliminating those and making our own production more competitive.
Also, I wasn't talking about import/export firms, but about firms that make use of imported materials (most firms in the country in one way or another) and firms that export either directly or indirectly.
There is no free trade in The U.S. and I doubt there will ever be as long as The U.S. continues to exist.
If you want to build something in america from parts made in america, you almost literally have to build it all yourself.
I agree that all of these regulations are abhorrent and should be gotten rid of, post haste.
But to state that they will raise prices or cause any other kind of economic downturn, doesn't really follow. Its already baked in the cake, and its just about which entity gets which slice.
Our worst policy in The U.S. is the minimum wage. If we were really about globalism and building up all markets, our minimum wage would be $3 a day like it is in most of the rest of the world.
So, I am not really upset by more import fees. Its not really a game changer. And arguing for the govern-cement to cut back on regulations... well, that will indeed be a red letter day.
It is all a scam. A less scammy scam isn't really better.
Every new regulation is a new cost in the chain of production. All costs are passed along to consumers through higher prices. They are not already "baked in," and changes have drastic effects.
It is true that trade is heavily restricted rather than free, but every new policy ratchets down the controls and further hampers the market.
Hopefully with Trump many of the absurd regulations will be lifted. Global trade practices by many nations is unfair and many do not abide by the rules! I do not like Trump but with trade I think he is right on the money
i agree with min wage being terrible...there are tons of other regs inducing trillions in lost econ opportunity making our economy less competitive. If the goal is to make U.S. production more competitive, then the healthy way to go about that is to actually make it more competitive--get rid of inefficient regs, artificial cost increases, and lower taxes--the unhealthy approach is to extort consumers.