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Manufacturing jobs were leaving the US in the millions pre-NAFTA and China joining the WTO. Even with high tariffs & restrictionist immigration policies, it can
by hash872 8y ago
Manufacturing jobs were leaving the US in the millions pre-NAFTA and China joining the WTO. Even with high tariffs & restrictionist immigration policies, it can't change the fact that someone in a 3rd world country can do x semi-skilled labor for $2 an hour whereas a unionized American does it for $30+. You can't pass a law against cheaper.
Even with the highest tariffs in the world, manufacturers would still have left for cheaper labor elsewhere in a globalized world. Economic reality is not a choice
- pytester 8y ago>You can't pass a law against cheaper. Tariffs, especially combined with the usually underestimated coordination expense of managing supply chains across continents, can make cheaper not cheaper. >Economic reality is not a choice It is completely a choice. Unfettered trade, globalism and the Washington Consensus were all choices.
- chiefalchemist 8y agoThe cheap labor is part of the equation. Less environmental restrictions also contributed significantly to cheap goods. But the final blow is the low cost of shipping / transportation. There has always been differences in markets. It's the low cost (and ease) of shipping / transportation that changed everything.