3 ms·

Tariffs are not free market. A true free market would have zero tariffs.

tw04 10mo ago
And it would quickly be destroyed by competing governments that don’t believe in free markets and actively subsidize their industries to capture market share.
- vmg12 10mo ago
  The US has been largely tariff free since the 1900s and it's the largest economy in the world.
  - tw04 10mo ago
    Remind me where I can buy a Chinese EV? And I assume there’s no government subsidies to allow US private sectors to compete globally because free market right? Right?
    - vmg12 10mo ago
      I forgot to put in my comment "until recently". And the US auto industry does such so using that as your argument in favor of tariffs doesn't really work.
      - ethbr1 10mo ago
        The 1960s+ chicken tax would like a word. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax
        HDThoreaun 10mo ago
        Yes, trucks are one of the few areas where there have been tariffs. And unsurprisingly American automakers are now completely uncompetitive.
      - tw04 10mo ago
        You and your downvote brigade can continue to hit my posts but it won’t change the fact the US has been subsidizing our agriculture sectors and oil and gas to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars for a LONG time. Anyone claiming the US is a completely free market is either uninformed or a delusional nationalist.
        vmg12 10mo ago
        I didn't downvote you once, I don't do it to people I'm discussing things with out of principle.
- victorbjorklund 10mo ago
  Can you give an example of a zero tariff country being destroyed by a super high tariff country? I can give you examples of the opposite. For example Argentina tried to build up domestic industries with high tariffs.
dredmorbius 10mo ago
Tariffs, as with taxes, may serve positive, market-favourable functions, particularly in addressing market failures, uneven regulation (e.g., higher pension, safety, environmental, and/or medical-care burdens in the importing country), as well as anti-dumping or anti-interference actions. British-Korean economist Ha-Joon Chang writes of this, particularly in Kicking Away the Ladder: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-Joon_Chang#Kicking_Away_the_Ladder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-Joon_Chang#Kicking_Away_the...> Recent US tariffs fall rather short on most of these points, of course.
- victorbjorklund 10mo ago
  It is still not a free market thing.

tw04 10mo ago

And it would quickly be destroyed by competing governments that don’t believe in free markets and actively subsidize their industries to capture market share.

vmg12 10mo ago
The US has been largely tariff free since the 1900s and it's the largest economy in the world.
- tw04 10mo ago
  Remind me where I can buy a Chinese EV? And I assume there’s no government subsidies to allow US private sectors to compete globally because free market right? Right?
  - vmg12 10mo ago
    I forgot to put in my comment "until recently". And the US auto industry does such so using that as your argument in favor of tariffs doesn't really work.
    - ethbr1 10mo ago
      The 1960s+ chicken tax would like a word. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax
      - HDThoreaun 10mo ago
        Yes, trucks are one of the few areas where there have been tariffs. And unsurprisingly American automakers are now completely uncompetitive.
    - tw04 10mo ago
      You and your downvote brigade can continue to hit my posts but it won’t change the fact the US has been subsidizing our agriculture sectors and oil and gas to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars for a LONG time. Anyone claiming the US is a completely free market is either uninformed or a delusional nationalist.
      - vmg12 10mo ago
        I didn't downvote you once, I don't do it to people I'm discussing things with out of principle.
victorbjorklund 10mo ago
Can you give an example of a zero tariff country being destroyed by a super high tariff country? I can give you examples of the opposite. For example Argentina tried to build up domestic industries with high tariffs.

dredmorbius 10mo ago

Tariffs, as with taxes, may serve positive, market-favourable functions, particularly in addressing market failures, uneven regulation (e.g., higher pension, safety, environmental, and/or medical-care burdens in the importing country), as well as anti-dumping or anti-interference actions. British-Korean economist Ha-Joon Chang writes of this, particularly in Kicking Away the Ladder: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-Joon_Chang#Kicking_Away_the_Ladder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-Joon_Chang#Kicking_Away_the...> Recent US tariffs fall rather short on most of these points, of course.

victorbjorklund 10mo ago
It is still not a free market thing.