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> If, as your post seems to be recommending, such regulations were abolished, Japanese farmers would pretty much cease to exist because of their inability to co
by iopq 10y ago
> If, as your post seems to be recommending, such regulations were abolished, Japanese farmers would pretty much cease to exist because of their inability to compete with cheaper imports.
Good, they can do something more useful with their time because Japan does not have a comparative advantage in farming. Having farms in Japan is very inefficient, since there are better regions to grow these crops.
Sure, you can't displace these farmers tomorrow, but slowly increasing the imports is a good idea. For one thing, it would decrease the cost of living for the average Japanese person, even if farmers are negatively affected.
Why is a farmer more important than a city dweller?
- zaphoyd 10y agoI would assume because maintaining some level of domestic food production would be important for national security.
- iopq 10y agoI would assume maintaining healthy trade relationships is important for food shortages like these, as well.
- emodendroket 10y agoIs the claim here that Japan is not able to trade as often as it would like? That seems to be obviously wrong.
- iopq 10y agoOf course it's not. When you erect trade barriers with other countries, they don't want to trade with you that much either. So exports to other countries are probably limited by the import policy of Japan, since they never made trade deals that lower tariffs on both ends.
- emodendroket 10y agoBut that is what is, in my opinion, obviously wrong. Go on a drive in any town in America and tell me there aren't a lot of Japanese products being sold here.
- iopq 10y agoWhich are much more expensive than American goods, which is what I'm saying is bad. If there isn't an extremely good trade deal between the two countries, then the tariffs will be high. Japan doesn't WANT a lot of American stuff, so they have no incentive to give a really good deal to American manufacturers. http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/10/trump-and-abe-us-may-struggle-to-land-a-bilateral-trade-deal-with-japan.html http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/10/trump-and-abe-us-may-struggle... indeed, it seems it's hard to get a good trade deal with Japan (asking for low tariffs on American imports)
- emodendroket 10y agoA Mazda is much more expensive than a comparable Ford?
- iopq 10y agoYou have to pay more for a Mazda than you otherwise would. It doesn't matter if Ford makes worse or more expensive cars.
- emodendroket 10y agoAnd yet Japanese cars consistently are among the top sellers in the United States (and are hardly uncommon on most of the globe's continents). It seems to me that there is nothing "unhealthy" about Japanese trade relationships.