Thursday, March 8, 2018

DONE: Trump Announces Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum


Spouting silly mercantilist commentary at the White House, President Trump has announced tariffs of 25% on foreign steel and 10% on aluminum.

 -Robert Wenzel 

UPDATE

Trump to hold off tariffs on Canada and Mexico while NAFTA negotiations continue.

UPDATE 2

Tariffs will go into effect in 15 days. Others will countries may be exempted based on national security.

UPDATE 3

Trump just announced that a "reciprocal tax" is coming.

3 comments:

  1. got to get that money to the MIC.

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  2. Just for fun, let's presume the National Security threat is real. That the Chinese Government is deliberately dumping steel in order to destroy/degrade the ability of US Companies (Their main geo-political rival) to produce steel domestically. Would this be a legitimate threat? What would your solution be? Bankrupt China over time by purchasing all their steel? How long would that take?
    I am firmly against Tariffs and trade restrictions, however I realize that realpolitik exists and I find this game of Empire extremely interesting. As far as I understand it, the Libertarian perspective is that if the US steel companies can't compete, they should go under. Is that not a legitimate threat to National Security if the US is unable to produce steel or has to quickly assemble a steel plant during an unexpected massive war.
    I'm interested in your thoughts from a realpolitik perspective.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, assuming you’re the US gov and you’ve determined that it’s critical to ensure a domestic supply of steel in the face of competition, it seems to me that tariffs would not be the best solution.

      For example, you could:
      -Directly subsidize domestic steel
      -Build a warehouse and stockpile a bunch of the cheap Chinese steel

      While I would oppose these measures as well, it seems like the economic damage they would cause would be much more limited than imposing tariffs.

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