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That’s silly, we get as much benefit from free trade as every other country. Let China or India do assembly at wages that would be below minimum wage here, and
by valuearb 6y ago
That’s silly, we get as much benefit from free trade as every other country. Let China or India do assembly at wages that would be below minimum wage here, and take those savings to get a bigger piece of the market, sell more iPhones, do more software and hardware design and create more developer jobs.
- totalZero 6y ago> we get as much benefit from free trade as every other country Considering that trade relationships are fundamentally asymmetrical (ie, you wouldn't have them if you were self-sufficient in the market segment being traded), I think this is a naive view of the wealth transfer and externalities associated with international trade.
- valuearb 6y agoFirst, the relationships are voluntary. Second, the relationships are mutually beneficial else one party would end them. Lastly, free trade doesn’t create a wealth transfer, it creates new wealth for both parties. Chinese assembling iPhones lifted a huge number of Chinese laborers out of rural poverty working in much more physically demanding and dangerous jobs at a fraction of the pay. A significant part of Apples market share, market cap, and tens of thousands of US iOS developer jobs are owed to cheaper iPhones enabled by Chinese labor. The only time “wealth transfer” occurs is when free trade breaks down a monopoly. Like if we ended sugar tariffs, the wealth would be transferred from certain politically connected families in Florida, to US consumers and foreign workers.