Remember the tariff debates that dominated Washington just a few months ago? For a while it was the only thing anyone seemed to talk about.
First tariffs were raised by eyewatering amounts. Then they weren’t. Eventually, after all sorts of back and forth, we saw tariffs imposed at the highest rates in decades. Free trade advocates warned of economic catastrophe, while protectionists claimed tariff revenue would fix the deficit. When immediate disaster didn’t strike, the issue seemed to fade – until now. Two local stories that caught my eye this week suggest that we are going to hear a lot more about tariffs. Agriculture is Mississippi’s largest industry, and soybeans the largest crop. Only a few days ago, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced $10-15 billion in federal support for soybean farmers, including those in the Mississippi Delta. Why is the federal government having to support soybean farmers in one of the most fertile places in America? Exports have collapsed. China, which once bought over half our soybean crop, now purchases from Brazil due to steep retaliatory tariffs on U.S. soybeans, triggered by U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. In other words, federal funds are now bailing out farmers hurt by federal tariffs.
A second story that got my attention this week was about grocery prices. 53% of Americans say grocery costs are a major concern, with prices spiking last month at the fastest rate in three years. I couldn’t help also notice another news item about how coffee prices have jumped 20% in the past year, partly because of a 50% U.S. tariff on Brazilian coffee imports. It is said that we often tend to overestimate the impact of new technology in the short term and underestimate the impact in the long term. I wonder if the same might be said of tariffs. The sky did not fall in when tariffs went up, but the lag effects of the historic hike are only just beginning to be felt by ordinary Americans. There may yet be something in what the free traders keep trying to tell us. Defenders of free trade have been reluctant to speak up. I suspect that may be about to change. By the time of the midterm elections, I suspect millions of Americans will be feeling the effects of tariffs. Tariffs? We are going to hear a lot more about them than some people expect. Douglas Carswell is the President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy and former member if British Parliament. Mr. Carswell authored this post.
This post is a paid advertisement.
16 comments:
You cannot have free trade unless no countries impose tariffs. Tariffs on the US by others while the US had minimal or no tariffs on them is bad policy. We’ll see how this works out.
@12:42 - What he said.
I will repeat a comment I made previously. Tariffs are like a fat person going to the gym. It hurts at first, but you have to stick with it to see the full benefits. If you just give up and go back to the sofa then you will never get stronger. Our economy is weakened. We have fewer jobs for our young people. AI is proving to be another bubble and mostly just another way to outsource work to India while hiding that it is just substandard Indian slop as usual.
What is free trade? Lots of talk amongst conservatives about free trade but nobody ever realistically defines it what it is...
Free Trade is trade without barriers and tarriffs.
The USA taking the worlds goods without tarriffs, while the world applies tarriffs to everything we produce, is not free trade.
Also, forcing every foreign company that wants to do business in (China) to partner with a (government cobtrolled) company that then has rights to your IP, is not free trade.
China has basically forced everyone from. GM to Caterpillar to partner with a local company to create a side-by-side assembly lines.
SAIC is the laegest automobile manufactorurnin China. SAIC benefits from their corced partnership with General Motors in that they copy every GM development and manufacturing process as part of the deal. Then at the end, GM sales decline because their product is more expensive.
SAIC makes a cheap clones of the Silverado, called the “Maxus” and “Foton” for the Chinese market. They also sell these also every country that allows Chinese cars.
You may ask what does GM get out of this? They get more GM OEM parts made in China and they import them to the USA, use them in manufacturing, and sell them at huge markup in their dealerships.
That $100k Silverado and Sierra you buy today is mostly made of SAIC parts.
It’s basically already a China truck.
There has never truly been free trade. Trade has been manipulated by trading parties since the beginning of time. Sooner or later we're going to war with the Chinese.
Socialism for me, but not for thee.
Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.
Tarriffs are a tax on U.S. citizens to punish them for buying lower cost goods produced in other countries.
I don't recall another situation where a single economic policy decision had such an immediate and destructive impact on a specific industry or area of an industry. I really feel bad for these farmers. The very idea of the tarrifs was incredily stupid to begin with and the way it has been implemented is borderline insanity.
"We'll see how this works out"? Tell that to the farmers who have production loans coming due in the next 2-3 months, with no market for their crops. As insulting as it is, their best hope at this point is a government bailout. So while they are waiting on that, the "government" isn't even open. Trump should be liabile for negligence. Just as bad is the silence from Republicans in congress who represent agriculture heavy states. They should be calling the dumbasses out on the carpet.
Food or Chy-na’s goods, which would you rather have? Coffee? You can do without it. Farm subsidies have been around since the 1930’s. Tariffs have brought industry back to the US that we shouldn't have lost overseas. All this article tells me is that tariffs are about all the Democrats will have to politic on at midterms, that and Trump hate. Whatever we are paying the author of this info is too much, he needs to go home and try to save England!
Here’s a radical idea… how about we stop growing food and selling it to our ideological enemies, the Chicoms? Sometimes you have to have integrity instead of profiting from your own destruction!
Your post may be the most idiotic take on a subject I have ever read, and that's saying a lot.
Or maybe we should stay true to our own ideology and not put up barriers to free trade. China is gonna be communists if we sell them soybeans or not, so let’s sell them soybeans.
The problem with Soybeans did not start with Trump, 22, 23 drought, 24, and now 25
Morons Are Governing America
Post a Comment