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I never quite understood how imposing import taxes/tariffs is seen as being good for your own population / bad for manufacturer. To my extremely simplistic vie

I never quite understood how imposing import taxes/tariffs is seen as being good for your own population / bad for manufacturer. To my extremely simplistic view: * If I live in country A * My government imposes taxes/tariffs on goods imported from country B = MY cost to purchase said things I want just went up. Long term, this may or may not have impact on the manufacturer/Country B. Immediate term, my life sucks a bit more because of my government. How/Why are masses so enthusiastically responding to all the populist promises (in USA right now, but around the world in general) to raise taxes on imports (which still goes in the category of "taxes I pay on things I want to buy), when they respond so negatively on raising taxes on anything else??

apocalyptic0n3 10y ago
> To my extremely simplistic view: * If I live in country A * My government imposes taxes/tariffs on goods imported from country B = MY cost to purchase said things I want just went up. Please correct me if I my own simplistic view is incorrect, but is that not the reason why foreign product costs are so high in Australia as well?
int_19h 10y ago
The idea is that because the manufacturer's costs also go up, there's no longer any reason for them to manufacture abroad, and the same goods are manufactured in the country instead. So while their prices are higher, the workers that make them are also paid more (and, perhaps more importantly, are paid at all, on account of having a job). And furthermore, that money remains in the economy of the country imposing the tariff. Ideally, the end result is that more people overall can afford that iPhone, for example, even if the sticker price is higher. To what extent this works in practice is another matter. But I would posit that the notion that's common nowadays that tariffs are always bad is just as simplistic as wrong as the notion that tariffs can fix all problems. It all boils down to the specific numbers.

apocalyptic0n3 10y ago

> To my extremely simplistic view: * If I live in country A * My government imposes taxes/tariffs on goods imported from country B = MY cost to purchase said things I want just went up. Please correct me if I my own simplistic view is incorrect, but is that not the reason why foreign product costs are so high in Australia as well?

int_19h 10y ago

The idea is that because the manufacturer's costs also go up, there's no longer any reason for them to manufacture abroad, and the same goods are manufactured in the country instead. So while their prices are higher, the workers that make them are also paid more (and, perhaps more importantly, are paid at all, on account of having a job). And furthermore, that money remains in the economy of the country imposing the tariff. Ideally, the end result is that more people overall can afford that iPhone, for example, even if the sticker price is higher. To what extent this works in practice is another matter. But I would posit that the notion that's common nowadays that tariffs are always bad is just as simplistic as wrong as the notion that tariffs can fix all problems. It all boils down to the specific numbers.