Tariffs Rarely Work Out As Planned

[Valin]

National Review/The Corner:

Jim Geraghty

March 8, 2016

 

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You know that 45, or 35, or 25 percent tariff Donald Trump keeps calling for? We’ve already tried that on Chinese tires. Over on the home page this morning, I point out that it didn’t generate the results that everyone hoped.

 

If you work in the tire industry, maybe you’re fine with blowing up the export market for poultry producers. The problem is, putting a tariff on tires from one country is good news for tire industry workers in a bunch of other countries, too. Forbes reported that from 2009 to 2011, “30 percent more tires were imported from Canada; 110 percent more from South Korea; 44 percent more from Japan; 152 percent more from Indonesia; 154 percent more from Thailand; 117 percent more from Mexico and 285 percent more from low volume provider Taiwan, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.”

 

Of course, Trump isn’t proposing a tariff on just one good like tires; he’s talking about slapping tariffs on all * Chinese goods. That would probably just prompt U.S. companies to shift to suppliers in other countries whenever possible.

 

To prevent consumers from buying imported goods, a Trump administration would have to put tariffs on goods from all other countries – and of course, all of them would retaliate with tariffs of their own. There might be some people who see this as ideal, who envision a world where American consumers go to stories and only see American-made products on the shelves.

 

(Snip)

 

 

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* 3 guesses where the filter in your smart phone is made. (hint: it's not Bloomington Mn. anymore)