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Trade wars are always bad and don't need to be argued against. They are a tax hike, they are unpredictable, they disrupt ongoing business and deter future busin
by phil248 8y ago
Trade wars are always bad and don't need to be argued against. They are a tax hike, they are unpredictable, they disrupt ongoing business and deter future business, and they sour political relations.
Until some tangible benefits come from this trade war, it's nothing but downside. And aside from some vague claims about "fairness", it's not even clear what those benefits are supposed to be.
- Synaesthesia 8y agoIt’s thanks to protectionism that the US and the UK were able to become industrial economies, and pretty much in every case of development you can name, eg South Korea. In each case the government intervened radically to protect their nascent industries. Had it not been for protectionism, the UK’s textile industry would not have competed with India’s, in fact they forced their wares on India, to the detriment of their own textile industry.
- avar 8y agoThe test for whether protectionism makes sense isn't whether you can point to some specific industries that benefited from it. Of course pretty much any country is capable of building a strong industry in some specific area, whether that's textiles, food etc. The question is at what cost, and whether it makes sense overall. That buildup of the UK's textile industry didn't come free, it was effectively a tax on everyone in the UK who wasn't working in textiles, because they'd otherwise have been able to buy them for less, and thus have more money left over for other things, including investing in or building other industries. Which isn't to say that there's no use for protectionism. But specific examples like this don't help. It could just as well be that the UK was going to experience an economic boom anyway, and that protectionism slowed down their long-term growth.