4 ms·
Someone mentioned a week or two ago on HN that the point of the auto tariffs was national security (maintaining the industry/expertise/etc. in the US, I assume)
by dataflow 7mo ago
Someone mentioned a week or two ago on HN that the point of the auto tariffs was national security (maintaining the industry/expertise/etc. in the US, I assume), not economic.
- SideQuark 7mo agoThey’re wrong. Lyndon Johnson imposed the 25% Chicken Tax during trade skirmishes with Germany to make Volkswagens more expensive, and later tapes surfaced showing this was actually done for political favors. It had zero to do with national security. As a result Americans pay about 25% more for light trucks of inferior quality ever sense, as a giant handout to the car industry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tariffs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tariffs_in_the_Unit... So as usual, tariffs cost the country imposing them, returning less net goods, and moves money into the protected class at the expense of the wider public.