4 ms·
> Delete subsidy carrot, replace with tariff stick? Tariffs are both subsidies and taxes at the same time; see "Tariffs Give U.S. Steelmakers a Green Light to
by throw0101c 2y ago
> Delete subsidy carrot, replace with tariff stick?
Tariffs are both subsidies and taxes at the same time; see "Tariffs Give U.S. Steelmakers a Green Light to Lift Prices":
> Executives from U.S. steel companies were enthusiastic backers of the 2018 tariffs and have urged Trump to deploy them again in his second term. They have called for the elimination of tariff exemptions and duty-free import quotas, saying those carve-outs allow unfairly low-price steel to enter the U.S. and undermine the steel market.
[…]
> Higher prices for imported steel are often followed by domestic suppliers raising their own prices, which then get passed through supply chains, manufacturing executives said. For consumers already reeling from rising retail prices and inflation, pricier steel and aluminum could further lift costs for durable goods like appliances and automobiles, as well as consumer products with aluminum packaging, such as canned beverages.
> “The issue with tariffs is everybody raises their prices, even the domestics,” said Ralph Hardt, owner of Belleville International, a Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of valves and components used in the energy and defense industries. Steel and aluminum are Belleville’s largest expenses.
* http://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/trump-tariffs-mexico-canada-us-steel-market-a36c3b99 http://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/trump-ta...
So tariffs are taxes in the sense that consumers are paying higher prices. But they are subsidies in that domestic companies don't have as much pressure on prices and can get more money.
So if you want to help a particular industry might as well just go with subsidies directly instead of the taxation add-on as well.
- pfannkuchen 2y agoTariffs are massively simpler though and less prone to corruption. The latter is I think the reason we hear so much screeching about them. Right now our industries are competing with slave labor and lax environmental controls. If we don’t want either of those things here, we can’t allow groups who do those things to sell into our market freely. The idea that we tax our people and hand the money to our companies so they can compete with polluting slave labor is incredibly more complicated than just putting up barriers to entering our market. Not to mention the fact that the pollution in China et al affects us here also. In my opinion we should just not trade with countries who don’t have labor and environmental standards at parity with ours. Tariffs are the next best thing.
- nxobject 2y ago> Right now our industries are competing with slave labor and lax environmental controls. If we don’t want either of those things here, we can’t allow groups who do those things to sell into our market freely. It would be nice if tariffs would serve that purpose in this timeline, but they won't. The actual "we" imposing tariffs is diametrically opposed to the "we" (me included) that want better labor and environmental standards (well, a planet that isn't a cinderblock by 2025). Trump, Musk, and their ideological collaborators are probably dismantling the NLRB, the EEOC, and EPA as we speak.