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> Democrats, who historically supported protectionist trade measures, now oppose tariffs Can you provide a source for this one? On the front of free trade, NAF

by vitus 2y ago

> Democrats, who historically supported protectionist trade measures, now oppose tariffs Can you provide a source for this one? On the front of free trade, NAFTA comes to mind where there was some support and some oppositions within both parties. And of course there was TPP which Obama was championing (to no avail -- every major presidential candidate in 2016 opposed it). Is this a reference to the chicken tax during the LBJ era? Nixon had also placed a 10% global tariff on all dutiable imports when we got off the gold standard, so I don't see it as being obviously a single-party issue. And of course, Smoot-Hawley was a heavily partisan bill championed by the Republican side of the house. The Republican fascination with tariffs goes all the way back to at least 1861 with the Morill Tariff (and even further back if you consider their predecessors in the Whig party).

tlogan 2y ago
Honestly, I was under impression Democrats were for tariffs :-) I guess I was unnecessarily worried that Democrats love tariffs. It is the other way around now. I do remember this speech by Bernie Sanders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzpmhBEA9Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzpmhBEA9Ok
- vitus 2y ago
  Yeah, Bernie Sanders has consistently staked out a number of protectionist / populist positions, but he is not representative of the Democratic party as a whole. In case you're wondering, the resolution in question failed with large margins in both parties (although it garnered a somewhat larger share of D votes -- 23% versus 17%). https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2005239 https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2005239 Outside of a few limited occurrences, from 1980 up to the early 2010s, both Republicans and Democrats generally supported free trade and lowering tariffs. (This may extend all the way back to 1934, but I haven't checked all the votes in Congress to see, for instance, if this sentiment extended beyond Eisenhower to the rest of his party in the 1950s.)

by vitus 2y ago

tlogan 2y ago

Honestly, I was under impression Democrats were for tariffs :-) I guess I was unnecessarily worried that Democrats love tariffs. It is the other way around now. I do remember this speech by Bernie Sanders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzpmhBEA9Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzpmhBEA9Ok

vitus 2y ago
Yeah, Bernie Sanders has consistently staked out a number of protectionist / populist positions, but he is not representative of the Democratic party as a whole. In case you're wondering, the resolution in question failed with large margins in both parties (although it garnered a somewhat larger share of D votes -- 23% versus 17%). https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2005239 https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2005239 Outside of a few limited occurrences, from 1980 up to the early 2010s, both Republicans and Democrats generally supported free trade and lowering tariffs. (This may extend all the way back to 1934, but I haven't checked all the votes in Congress to see, for instance, if this sentiment extended beyond Eisenhower to the rest of his party in the 1950s.)